MARBLEHEAD — When you give the Marblehead baseball team extra opportunities, the Magicians will make you pay. That was the takeaway from Wednesday’s 6-0 Marblehead win over Winthrop in a Northeastern Conference tilt at Seaside Park.
Marblehead’s offense belted just three hits. But the Vikings, struggling to pound the strike zone with consistency, gave the Magicians 12 free passes. The walks came back to haunt them.
“That’s something we’ve done this year, taking advantage of what the other team has given us,” Marblehead coach Mike Giardi said. “That has been the big thing for us. You look at what we’ve done this year, even the last two games (against Malden and Revere), they gave us extra outs. When you take advantage of extra outs and extra baserunners, that’s huge. (Wednesday) we took advantage.”
Brady Lavender carried Marblehead’s offense with a 2-for-4 performance at the plate and four RBI. Charlie Titus (1-for-2) doubled in the bottom of the third. Schuyler Schmitt (0-for-2, RBI) and Erick Gonzalez scored two runs each.
Ben Weed gave the Magicians a valiant effort on the mound. Weed logged seven strikeouts, allowed four hits and walked one in his seven shutout innings.
“Ben’s done a good job pumping strikes,” Giardi said. “That’s the name of the game. You have to throw strikes. If you throw strikes, you throw outs. You’re not trying to throw strikeouts, you’re trying to throw outs. We didn’t walk a lot of guys and we took advantage of the walks we got.”
Vikings starter Christian Natareno pitched four innings. Natareno allowed two earned runs on two hits with four strikeouts.
Weed worked around a leadoff single in the top of the first, a one-out double in the second and sent Winthrop three up, three down in the third. Marblehead stranded a pair of runners in the bottom of the first and left the bases loaded in the second. But the Magicians cashed in on a pair of walks in the bottom of the third. Gonzalez and Schmitt drew free passes to start the frame. Ben Brennan bunted them over to second and third, setting the stage for Lavender’s first 2-RBI hit of the game.
Winthrop threatened with back-to-back one-out singles in the fourth. Weed escaped the jam with consecutive strikeouts.
Clinging to a 2-0 lead, Marblehead found the insurance it needed in the bottom of the sixth. Schmitt walked with the bases loaded, plating Godot Gaskins for the Magicians’ third run. After Brennan grounded into a fielder’s choice, Lavender hit a 2-RBI double to bump Marblehead’s lead to 5-0. Brennan sealed the scoring when he raced home on a passed ball.
“They were only down two runs,” Giardi said. “That means if they got one on base the tying run is at the plate. Now you put a solid number up on the board and that changes everything. You could see they were a bit deflated and our team had a little more energy, a little more confidence.”
Weed fanned the first two batters of the seventh and forced a groundout to finish the 6-0 win.
With the victory, Marblehead improved to 7-2.
“I like what we’ve been doing, especially with the way the kids have been coming together,” Giardi said. “That’s an important piece. We’re getting contributions from a lot of different areas at different times. Guys have been doing a good job on the mound, defensively. Even when we have a bad inning or a bad play, guys have been picking each other up. That’s huge.”
The Magicians travel to Swampscott Friday (6:30).
