LYNN — The first meeting between the Bishop Fenwick and St. Mary’s baseball teams went to the Crusaders earlier this season. Monday night in battle No. 2, the Spartans came ready to play.
St. Mary’s made the most of its early opportunities and rolled to a 12-5 win at Fraser Field.
“We just had to put balls in play,” Spartans coach Derek Dana said. “We get the bunt down a couple times and then we get the big hit. That’s exactly what we talked about before the game. It was the same situation the first game and we didn’t get the big hit. That was a good win.”
John Mulready paced St. Mary’s offense, going 2-for-2 with one RBI, one run scored and two walks. Aedan Leydon went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles, two RBI and one run scored. Anthony Bono went 2-for-3 with a RBI single and Jared Coppola went 1-for-3 with two RBI.
After a scoreless inning and a half, the Spartans got things going in the bottom of the second. Mulready led the frame with a single. Lee Pacheco was hit by a pitch and Josh Mateo reached on a bunt single to load the bases. A Bono single scored Richie Pagliuca, who pinch ran for Mulready, for the game’s first run. Pacheco scored on a fielder’s choice, bumping the lead to 2-0. After Colin Reddy walked, Leydon delivered a 2-RBI single, plating Bono and Kyle Ouellette. Reddy scored on a Fenwick error to give the Spartans a 5-0 lead after two innings.
St. Mary’s tagged Fenwick for three more in the bottom of the third. Mulready came home on an error to make it 6-0 Spartans. Coppola’s 2-RBI double brought Pacheco and Ouellette home for an 8-0 lead.
Mulready rifled a RBI double in the bottom of the third, bringing Leydon home. A Fenwick infield error allowed Mulready to tack on another run, stretching St. Mary’s lead to 10-0.
While the offense pushed runs across, Spartans starting pitcher Pacheco took care of the rest. Pacheco kept the Crusaders off the board through his five innings of work. He struck out three, allowed three hits and walked one.
“Lee has been outstanding,” Dana said. “He pounds the strike zone, works fast and lets the kids make plays behind him. The kids made some nice plays behind him. Defense was excellent tonight. He kept the ball down, defense made plays and that’s what we needed.”
Fenwick starter David Furtado went 2 1/3 innings before handing the ball to reliever Max Gonzalez. Gonzalez, a freshman, pitched 2 2/3 and Sam Lynch tossed the sixth.
“David can’t go forever,” Crusaders coach Russ Steeves said. “It’s just one of those games we kind of have to let go.
“Alex is going to be great,” Steeves added. “We wanted to get him out there and get him used to different situations, so that was good.”
Fenwick scored twice in the top of the sixth on a sac-fly from Ethan Belt and a RBI single from Trey Deloury.
St. Mary’s scored twice in the bottom of the sixth and Fenwick plated three in the seventh to cap the 12-5 final.
“I’m happy we didn’t quit,” Steeves said. “We battled back at the end. It was one of those days where we made a lot of errors. We have to get back at it and work on the fundamentals.”
Both teams are back in action Wednesday when St. Mary’s (7-4) visits Spellman and Fenwick (7-3) battles Hamilton-Wenham.
