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Marblehead pitcher Spencer Carr tossed a no-hitter against Concord-Carlisle to lift the Magicians to a win in the first round of the Division 2 North tournament on Thursday.
By SCOT COOPER
MARBLEHEAD — Senior lefty Spencer Carr had no idea he had fired a no-hitter leading to a 3-0 Magician win over Concord-Carlisle Thursday afternoon.
It was news to him until he got the water bucket shower from his teammates after the final out.
“Really, I had no idea that I had pitched a no-hitter, seriously, until they told me right after the game,” Carr said. “I thought I gave up a hit in the fourth, but I guess they called it an error, really, I’m just glad that we won.”
Carr faced 22 batters, just one over the minimum for a seven-inning game. He whiffed eight, including the last two batters in the top of the seventh. Carr walked Michael Ruediger to start the game, and the Patriots second baseman was erased trying to steal second by Marblehead catcher Josh Tassinari.
C-C’s Daniel Brockway milked a walk to start the second, and Tassinari gunned him down trying to swipe second as well.
The Patriots had their final chance to score in the top of the fifth when Brockway and catcher Kevin Bailey reached on errors by the Marblehead infield. Carr punched out C-C’s pitcher Spencer Meyer on strikes for the first out. With two on and one out, Marblehead’s Drew Bisegna grabbed a fly ball and gunned the ball in to shortstop Drew Gally, who snuck in behind Brockway and tagged him out to end the last Patriot threat.
Marblehead scored twice in the bottom of the fifth. Tim Kalinowski grounded one to short, bringing home Bisegna, who had led off the inning with a single. The throw to get Kalinowski sailed past the C-C first baseman, allowing Jeff Stern, pinch-running for Thomas Rockett, to trot home with run No. 2. Rockett had walked on five pitches after Bisegna’s single.
The Magicians added another run in the top of the sixth, for a three-run lead. Rockett lined a double to left and went to third on a passed ball. Tassinari earned a free pass, and was lifted for pinch runner Max Gross. Gross took a big lead, executed a delayed steal perfectly, and Rockett slid head first into home, beating the tag, for the final Marblehead run.
Marblehead improves to 15-6, and will travel to play Reading (17-4) on Monday, June 6, at 4 p.m., in the Division 2 North quarterfinals. Concord-Carlisle, which won the Dual-County League for the second straight season, finishes up at 13-8.
“I don’t know why, but we played our worst game of the year, certainly at the worst possible time,” Patriots coach Chris Aufiero said. “Their guy (Carr) did a nice job, he mixed it up, we didn’t do much to help ourselves today, very disappointing.”
Marblehead coach Jason Tarasuik, who lost one of his aces, Garret Keough, with an arm injury for the season, said his team keeps finding a way to get it done.
“We called Spencer’s number, and he comes in and throws a no-hitter, that’s why I love this team, they find a way, this was a huge win for our team,” Tarasuik said.
