PHOTO: DINA BILLINGSLEY
Marblehead second baseman Tim Kalinowski (12) tries to turn a double play over English’s Rafael Ruiz as Garrett Keough (2) looks on.
By MIKE ALONGI
MARBLEHEAD — Behind solid pitching and one big inning, the Marblehead baseball team defeated English, 8-2, at Seaside Park Friday afternoon.
Lefty pitcher Spencer Carr got the win on the mound for Marblehead (3-0), giving up no runs on four hits with seven strikeouts in 4 ⅓ innings of work.
“I thought we really pitched well, we played as a team and we were aggressive,” said Marblehead coach Jason Tarasuik. “Spencer Carr threw strikes and kept us involved defensively, and we didn’t really make any mistakes out there.”
Chris Gally went 3-for-3 with an RBI for the Magicians, while James McCarthy, Tim Kalinowski, Garrett Keough and Cole Garventi each notched two hits and an RBI. Tedd York had a pinch-hit RBI single in the fifth inning.
For English (0-2), Kenny Sanchez and Gerry Ortega each notched RBI singles.
The Bulldogs threatened early on, getting runners to second and third with only one out in the top of the first. But Carr wasn’t fazed, striking out the next two batters to end the inning without any damage.
The Magicians capitalized in the bottom of the inning when they scored a run on a fielder’s choice to take a 1-0 lead.
All was quiet until the bottom of the fourth, when Marblehead was able to tack on two more runs. Gally led off the inning with a single, advanced to second on a balk and then was sacrificed over to third. From there, Garventi launched an RBI double to left-center to score one run, then scored himself on a passed ball on the next play. By the time English worked out of the jam, it was 3-0 Marblehead.
But the Bulldogs wouldn’t go down without a fight.
In the top of the fifth, centerfielder Matt Desilets opened the inning with a bunt single and stole second base. After two quick outs, Sanchez stepped up to the plate and hit possibly the longest single in the history of Seaside Park. The ball was a towering shot to left field that hit off the big tree over the fence and fell into the English left fielder’s glove. Initially called an out, it was overturned to a single after the umpires congregated, and English had its first run.
Sanchez stole second base on the next play, then was knocked in by Ortega’s RBI single to make it 3-2 Marblehead.
That was as close as English got. In the bottom of the fifth, Drew Bisegna led off with a double to left-center. Keough was up next and roped an RBI double to almost the exact same spot. And then the big run began.
“We just wanted to respond in a positive way, we wanted to come back at them,” said Tarasuik. “We didn’t want to sit on a 3-2 lead, because we know that Lynn English teams don’t ever give up. So those back-to-back doubles really helped our cause and we responded.”
After a pop out, Gally stepped up and knocked Keough in with a single. After that, York, McCarthy and Kalinowski each singled home a run to blow the game open and make it 8-2.
The Magicians’ pitching shut things down from there, with York, Keough and Pete Morrison combining to pitch 1 ⅔ innings of scoreless ball to seal the victory.
Mike Alongi can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @m_alongi.
