St. Mary’s baseball tops Fenwick in eight innings

LYNN – If you were to rate the games in the St. Mary’s-Bishop Fenwick rivalry, this one would have to be at or near the top.The Spartans won, 2-1, in eight innings, but if it’s tingling mound duels you’re looking for, you’d have found it at Fraser Field. Both Joe Levasseur of the Crusaders (11-3) and Brendan Deleire of the Spartans (9-5, 6-4) turned in complete-game gems. Neither deserved to lose, but thanks to some old-fashioned small ball – combined with one big hit – it was Deleire who ended up winning.Click here for a photo gallery.Until the eighth, though, it was pretty much even-Steven. Levasseur gave up seven hits; Deleire surrendered six. Between the two of them, there was only one walk – a fifth-inning free pass by Levasseur to Ryan Madden that played no part in the scoring. And Levasseur had a slight edge in strikeouts, 10-9.”It was a tremendous game,” said Spartan coach Derek Dana. “We’ve seen Joe now for three years, and he always gives you everything he has. He threw strikes, mixed pitches, and he was everything we knew he was.”But our guy matched him,” Dana said. “Last time out, he went nine innings and did tremendous. This time, he went eight, and thankfully we gave him enough support.””Great game,” echoed Fenwick’s Kevin Canty. “You knew that it was going to be one of those games that came down to one big hit, and it did.”The big hit came with no one out in the bottom of the eighth. Chris Butler, who had three of his team’s hits, led off the game with a base hit that just eluded second baseman Nick Fanjoy, who jumped as high as he could, only to see the ball pass over his glove.That brought No. 3 hitter Victor Molle up. Dana’s primary objective was to get Butler to second and he was willing to give up the out. So he had Molle bunting. But the first baseman fouled one off and fanned on the other.With the count 2-2, Dana took the bunt sign off.”They got to 2-2 with the breaking ball, and I had a feeling Vic might get a fastball,” said Dana. “So we took a chance. And Vic really came through.”Molle hit one that sailed over centerfielder Eric Razney’s head.”It would have been out of the park anywhere else,” said Canty. “I know it would have been out at our place. (Razney) runs down just about everything hit out there, so it’s not on him. (Molle) just hit a shot.””Actually,” said Canty, “I might have still bunted. But he made a different decision and it worked out.”The speedy Butler scored all the way from first as Razney threw from just in front of the centerfield fence.Fenwick broke out to a 1-0 lead in the third inning. With one out, John Oliveira doubled to right and took third on a groundout. He scored when Nick Bona hit a nubber that forced third baseman Brendan O’Neill to rush his throw, and Molle, at first, bobbled the low throw.St. Mary’s got the run back in the bottom of the third by playing a little small ball. Justin O’Blenes bunted his way on to lead off the inning, and Madden sacrificed him to second. Butler scorched one just inside the first-base bag that scored O’Blenes with the tying run.Steve Krause can be reached at [email protected].