Spartans blast their way past Matignon

LYNN – The St. Mary’s baseball team came to Fraser Field Monday looking to remain red-hot and to gain some ground in the Catholic Central League/Large race.Well, the Spartans did both things rather easily.Mike Scanlon and Jeremy Tranfaglia teamed to hold Matignon to four hits while the Spartan offense pounded out 15 of its own to sweep to a commanding 14-1 win over the Warriors.Click here for a photo gallery.”We talked all about keeping the momentum we have going, and we did that,” St. Mary’s coach Derek Dana said. “Mike came out and pitched great for us. He threw strikes and I’m proud of him.”It was far from a one-man attack on Monday for St. Mary’s (7-3) as nine different players had a hit; 11 players scored a run; and six different players drove in runs.”We had a lot of guys with some good numbers (Monday),” Dana said.St. Mary’s grabbed a quick 1-0 lead in the first when Justin Sharkey walked, went to third on a perfectly executed hit-and-run by Joe Kasper and scored on a wild pitch. Matignon (3-7) came back in the third against Scanlon when No. 9 hitter Mike Olson singled and later scored on a Mike Nicholson sacrifice fly.The Spartans would assume complete control of the game in the bottom of the third, exploding for four runs on four hits against Matignon starter Tom Kervick.Alex Glover (2-for-3, 2 RS) got the rally started when he tripled. Sharkey brought him in with a groundout to second that was out No. 2 in the inning. Kasper worked a walk and moved to second on a passed ball.Alex Fiste (2-for-4, 4 RBI, 2 RS) brought him across with a laser-beam double that made it 3-1. Angelo Codispoti was hit by a pitch and Matt Turmenne followed with a single that made it 4-1.Nick Day completed the inning when he singled home Codispoti to give St. Mary’s a 5-1 lead after three.Scanlon, meanwhile, was on full cruise control mode at that point. He struck out six and walked only one in five innings of efficient work.”The key for Mike was he kept throwing strikes,” Dana said. “His walking only one was big.”St. Mary’s added to the lead in the fourth when Glover singled, stole second and scored on Kasper’s double to right. A wild pitch moved Kasper to third and he scored on Fiste’s sacrifice fly to the warning track in center.The wheels later fell completely off the wagon for the Warriors in the sixth as four errors led to 12 Spartans coming to the plate and seven runs crossing home. Cam Mulvey and Kurtis White had two hits each in the marathon inning to lead the attack.