Yianacopolus, Spartans win

LYNN – It was evident from the get-go on Saturday morning that the St. Mary?s baseball team was in for a battle with visiting Wakefield, even with ace left-hander Clay Yianacopolus toeing the rubber.The Spartans junior was taxed by a 33-pitch first inning that he ultimately would escape from unscathed despite a leadoff single and two-out hit batsman.When all was said and done, Yianacopolus yielded only a sixth-inning solo homer while his offense, led by Brian Nerich (3 for 3, 2 RBI), did just enough on the way to a 4-1 victory at Fraser Field.?Take away that first inning and Clay was very efficient for us yet again,” explained St. Mary?s coach Derek Dana. “We were clean in the field behind him again. Our pitching and defense has been very good lately and our offense did enough for us to get a win.”After one hit through the first two innings, the Spartan bats came through against Shawn Smeglin during a three-run third.Yianacopolus and Paul Halas drew consecutive walks to open the frame before the Warriors righty struck out leadoff man Antonio Felix. An ensuing RBI single to left from Matt Costanza broke the ice. Both runners advanced into scoring position on the play after a throw to the plate, leading to Ryan Boisselle?s sacrifice fly to center field.Smeglin would issue a walk to Jack Leonard before Nerich capped the inning by ripping his second single of the day up the middle to plate Costanza.?We finally got their pitcher to go into the stretch,” explained Dana of the difference-making inning. “He didn?t have the same command from that position and our guys got the barrel on the ball. We haven?t gotten three in an inning for a while.”Nerich tacked on an RBI single in the sixth, scoring Boisselle.?He?s starting to come out of it,” said Dana of the mini slump Nerich has been fighting. “It was nice seeing him swing the bat well and get rewarded for it today.”After the lengthy first, Yianacopolus needed just 11 pitches in the following inning.The third saw the lefty plunk Mike Caraslic to begin things before he induced leadoff man Corey Imbriano into a 6-4-3 double play.The visitors would threaten again in the fourth.Anthony Cesare became the third Warrior to be hit by a pitch, leading to a one-out walk to Matt Mercurio. Yianacopolus would dig deep to get the next two batters, Tyler Beck and Mike Miller, to pop out to Nerich behind the plate.Wakefield would go down in order in the fifth before Chris McNall led off the following inning with a solo job to left.Cesare would add a one-out double in front of a diving Halas in center before Yianacopolus got Mercurio to ground out before striking out pinch-hitter Luke Martin.Costanza would be summoned to the mound after Yianacopolus issued a leadoff walk to Andrew Auld to begin the seventh.Mike Melanson drew a free pass before Caraslic swung through a bouncing third strike. Ever alert, Nerich scooped the ball up and fired it down to first to catch the runner leaning towards second for a double play. Costanza completed the save by getting Imbriano to ground out to second.St. Mary?s (9-3, 6-3) hosts Archbishop Williams Wednesday.