Baseball: Classical pulls it out in extras against Marblehead

The Classical baseball team needed extra innings to break the stalemate against Marblehead, as the Rams defeated the Magicians 5-0 at Marblehead Wednesday.Classical coach Mike Zukowski was very pleased with his team’s performance.”Marblehead is a very solid and disciplined team. This was really a pitchers’ duel from tip to tail. My team was fortunate enough to get the timely hits today,” Zukowski said.Through the first eight innings the offenses were stymied, due to the dominance of Classical pitcher Kyle Gauthier (9 innings, 10 strikeouts, 3 walks, 3 hits, 0 runs), and Marblehead pitcher Braden Engstrom (8.1 innings, 5 runs, all in the top of the ninth). Gauthier had a no-hitter through the first five innings. Classical scored all five runs in the top of the ninth inning. John Finnigan and Ryan Hayward both hit singles to start the rally in the ninth. Brad Scuzzarella hit a double that brought in two runs to break the game open. Classical is 5-2.Danvers 9, English 6At Fraser Field, the game was tied 5-5 in the top of the sixth inning. The Falcons scored four runs in the sixth to put away the Bulldogs.Kyle O’Connor, Ben Bowden, Matt Burnham and James Ausiello all had two hits each for English (3-4). For Danvers, A.J. Couto had a strong day at the plate (3 hits, 1 RBI, 3 runs scored). Kevin Eldridge had two hits for the Falcons (8-1).Northeast 9, Tech 2At Northeast, Saugus native Jason Harper had a perfect game going through four innings for Northeast. Harper was pulled early to save his arm for the future. (He did re-enter the game, leaving for good after the fifth.) Tech’s Alex Guzman hit a solo home run over the left-field fence. Yorby Martinez added a single and an RBI for Tech (0-7).Arlington Catholic 4, St. Mary’s 1At Arlington Catholic, St. Mary’s Cam O’Neil gave the Spartans a 1-0 lead in the first inning (2-3, RBI). St. Mary’s put up goose eggs the rest of the way. Arlington Catholic scored all four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Victor Molle was on the hill for St. Mary’s (3.1 innings, 3 hits, 4 runs, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts). St. Mary’s is 3-4.Salem 1, Saugus 0At Salem State, Sachems pitcher Scott Enos tossed a gem (6 innings, 1 run, 2 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts). Enos gave up the lone run of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning. Salem’s Jencsy Troncoso hit the game-winning RBI single in the sixth inning. Salem pitcher Luis Baez kept the Saugus offense quiet (7 innings, 4 hits, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts). Salem and Saugus combined for six hits total. Saugus is 4-4.Beverly 11, Swampscott 8At Beverly, Swampscott got off to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Swampscott lost the lead in the third inning when the game was 4-3, and found itself down 7-3. Swampscott could not fully recover from that point. Leading the Swampscott (5-3) attack was Trevor Massey (3 hits, 3 runs scored) and Mike Walsh (2 hits, 3 runs scored, 1 RBI). Luke McDonald (2 hits, 3 RBI) and Alex Toomey (3 hits, 3 RBI) led the way for Beverly (4-3).Williams 4, Fenwick 1At Fenwick, Fenwick’s Kevin Church had a strong performance on the mound despite the loss (7 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs, 7 strikeouts). He also did well at the plate (1-2, walk, scored run). Church also had the only Fenwick hit of the game. Fenwick is 4-5.Peabody 10, Winthrop 4At Peabody, Peabody was led by pitcher Matt McIsaac (6 innings, 6 hits, 3 strikeouts, 4 hits, 2 walks, 4 runs). Peabody’s Genaro Ciulla hit a solo home run in the first inning for a 1-0 lead. Peabody scored four runs in the third inning on four straight two-out hits by Steve Girolamo, George Tsonis, Aaron Comak and McIsaac. Winthrop responded with four runs in the sixth inning to make it 5-4. Peabody scored five runs in the sixth inning keyed by a pinch-hit RBI double from Robbie Pelletier and a pinch-hit three-run homer from Frank Lowry. Peabody has won seven straight (7-2).