LYNN — Things are starting to click for the St. Mary’s baseball team.
The pitchers are finding their confidence, the bats are making noise and the bench is bringing its best level of energy to each game. Saturday afternoon at Fraser Field, the Spartans earned their third consecutive victory with a 6-0 win over Archbishop Williams.
“We’ve been working on a different approach (at the plate) and it’s starting to come around,” St. Mary’s coach Derek Dana said. “We might not have gotten all the results but they had some tough at-bats and it was nice to score more than two runs. A couple of those hits were with two strikes and two outs. That shows improvement.”
Undoubtedly star of the afternoon was starting pitcher Bobby Alcock. Save for a bases loaded jam in the fourth inning and another Williams threat in the seventh, Alcock had little trouble mowing through the Bishops order.
“Bobby’s been pretty consistent and today he was outstanding,” Dana said. “He finished the game today. It was nice to be able to pitch with a lead. The kids responded and they played well behind him.”
Alcock tossed seven innings of shutout baseball, allowing just three hits, two walks and fanning 14. He made quick work of Williams in the first three innings, retiring the Bishops in order in each frame.
“I’ve had confidence in Bobby for a year and a half now,” Dana said. “He came in as a sophomore, started to have some success. He took the ball in some big games last year as a sophomore. He’s going to get the ball in big games this year.”
St. Mary’s plated two in the bottom of the third. A Colin Reddy (2-for-4, RBI) RBI sac-bunt brought Anthony Bono home with the first run of the game. Kyle Ouellette raced home on wild pitch to make it a 2-0 Spartans lead.
The Spartans tacked on three more in the fifth. Ouellette drew a walk to start the rally and Reddy followed with a single. After a passed ball, Connor Donahue, who pinch-ran for Ouellette, and Reddy advanced to second and third. Donahue came home on a wild pitch to score St. Mary’s third run. Aedan Leydon walked to keep the rally alive and Anthony Nikolakakis (1-for-3, 2 RBI) notched the big hit. Nikolakakis laced a 2-RBI single, driving in Reddy and Leydon, to put the Spartans up 5-0.
“Anthony hit the ball hard to right field earlier in the game and their kid made the play,” Dana said. “He hit a one-hopper to the shortstop too. That play right there (2-RBI single), with two strikes, he battled. He had an opposite field approach and he was able to poke it through the middle.”
That was more than enough run support for Alcock to work with. Williams loaded the bases in the top of fourth on two singles and a walk but Alcock fanned the final Bishops batter of the inning to end the threat.
A Williams error in the sixth allowed St. Mary’s to add a run to its lead, scored by Josh Mateo.
The Bishops threatened with runners on first and second to start the top of the seventh but the 6-0 hole was too steep to climb out of. Alcock struck out the final three batters of the game to cap the win.
The Spartans (4-3) host Arlington Catholic Tuesday.
