The MIAA released the baseball state tournament pairings Tuesday and there are plenty of local teams in the hunt for state championships in their respective divisions.
Crosstown rivals Classical and English both qualified for the postseason in Division 1 North. The Rams wrapped the regular season at 14-6 and earned the No. 2 seed in the bracket. They have a first-round bye and await the winner between No. 7 Andover and No. 10 Boston Latin. English drew the No. 5 seed and hosts No. 12 Malden Catholic Friday (7) in the first round.
“We haven’t seen Malden Catholic but I know for sure they’re still a well-coached team,” English coach Doug Mullins said. “They play in a tough conference. They’re a good quality team year in and year out. We certainly expect a tough team. It’s a tough draw but that’s the way tournaments work. You have to play whoever’s in front of you and we’ll be ready to go.
“We’ve gotten solid pitching all season,” Mullins said. “Throwing strikes is always a key in baseball. For us it’s going to come down to playing solid defense. Hitting for us has been contagious. Sometimes we hit the ball all over the place, sometimes we can’t buy a run. But when we play solid defense we’re in every game.”
In Division 2 North, St. Mary’s and Marblehead are in the mix. The Spartans finished the regular season at 15-5 and earned the bracket’s No. 2 seed. St. Mary’s has a first-round bye and awaits the winner between No. 7 Belmont and No. 10 Masconomet. The Magicians drew the No. 5 seed and will host No. 12 Burlington Thursday (4) at Seaside Park.
“Baseball’s a little different than basketball or football,” Marblehead coach Mike Giardi said. “You won’t strategize against a certain offense. For us we have to go out and do what we’ve been doing and that’s play good baseball- putting the bat on the ball, throwing strikes and making good plays. We have to focus on the basics and fundamentals.
“I think with every team it doesn’t matter what the records are,” Giardi said. “We talked about that with the kids. You look at Beverly, they’re a 10-10 team on paper, same thing with Salem. Teams can compete. Everybody has good players that work really hard. We have to be ready to play.”
In Division 3 North, there are four local teams in the hunt and three of them have byes in the preliminary round. No. 3 Lynnfield awaits the winner between No. 14 Weston and No. 19 Wayland. No. 4 Fenwick awaits the winner between No. 13 Charlestown and No. 20 Stoneham. Saugus drew the No. 5 seed and awaits the winner between No. 12 Essex Tech and No. 21 Watertown. The Swampscott Big Blue are the No. 8 seed and host No. 9 Latin Academy of the Boston City League in the preliminary round. Swampscott will clash against Latin Academy Thursday (4) at Swampscott Middle School.
“In these type of games the teams that make the least mistakes have the best chance,” Swampscott coach Joe Caponigro said. “Hopefully we minimize mistakes and maybe we’re able to capitalize on some of their mistakes. Hopefully we can get some guys on base and get some timely hits.
“I’m not looking past Latin Academy,” Caponigro said. “You go one game at a time in these tournaments and you just never know.”
In Division 4 North, the Tech Tigers are making their second consecutive postseason appearance. Tech went 8-10 during the regular season and has the No. 8 seed. The Tigers travel to Malden’s Howard Park to battle against No. 9 Mystic Valley in the first round Thursday (4). Also in the mix are the No. 11 Winthrop Vikings. Winthrop visits No. 6 Lowell Catholic Thursday (4) in the first round.
