Marblehead baseball jolts Classical

LYNN – For four innings on Wednesday, it was an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel between Classical’s Kyle Gauthier and Marblehead’s Dan Colbert at Fraser Field. In the fifth, however, things changed in a dramatic way.The Magicians exploded for nine runs on eight hits and two Classical errors in the top of the fifth as they pulled away to a stunning 12-0 win over the Rams.”We took the approach that we wanted to be aggressive at the plate and not fall behind,” Marblehead coach Jason Tarasuik said after his team’s 17-hit barrage.It was a stunning turnaround after neither team could get much going for the first four innings and left Classical coach Mike Zukowski scratching his head for an answer.”It’s a big wakeup for us,” Zukowski said. “And it’s a reality check. Marblehead is a well coached team and Jason does a great job with them.”Colbert and Gauthier matched zeroes over the first four innings despite the Magicians (5-2, 4-2 NEC South) hurler struggling to find the strike zone at times but holding Classical (4-3, 4-2 NEC North) to a single Ryan Hayward hit.”Danny did a great job,” Tarasuik said. “He went out there and battled.”Casey Stead began the fifth inning onslaught when he reached second on an infield hit and an error. Connor Green followed with a bunt hit and Ryan Quigley was plunked to load the bases.Ryan Stanojev drew a walk to score Stead and break the scoreless deadlock. Ben Koopman then singled home Green for a 2-0 lead.Jake Kulevich followed with a 2-run double and Colton Dana’s 2-run single upped the lead to 6-0 and knocked Gauthier out of the game. Colbert helped his own cause with a double that scored Dana for a 7-0 lead before he scored on an error and Quigley singled home Green with the final run of the inning.Colbert would retire eight in a row at one point before leaving after Gauthier led off the sixth with a single. Max Hall shut down the Rams after they loaded the bases in the sixth before Marblehead tacked on three more runs on four hits in the seventh.