DANVERS — The St. John’s Prep baseball team got the back working early and rode a fast start all the way to victory Friday afternoon, taking down St. Mary’s 7-3 in a non-conference bout at Pete Frates Field.
Senior captains Pat D’Amico and DJ Pacheco led the offensive charge for the Eagles, with D’Amico going 1-for-3 with a home run and three RBI and Pacheco going 2-for-3 with a home run and one RBI. Payton Palladino went 2-for-4 with a triple and one RBI, Gavin George went 2-for-3 with one RBI and Nick Salitro went 1-for-4 with a triple.
On the mound, it was Peter Martin who got the start and earned the win for the Prep. Martin pitched four innings, allowing two runs on five hits with four strikeouts. Patrick Hosman pitched one inning of relief and allowed one run before Cam Wodarski finished the game with two innings of scoreless relief.
For St. Mary’s, Deniel Ortiz went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI to pace the offense. Lucas Fritz (2-for-3) also had multiple hits, while Aiven Cabral (1-for-4, triple), Tad Giardina (1-for-3) and John Nowicki (1-for-3) each had one hit.
Nowicki took the loss on the mound for the Spartans, tossing 3 1/3 innings and allowing five runs on six hits with one strikeout. Andrew Luciano (2 1/3 innings, two runs, four hits, four strikeouts) and Terence Moynihan (1/3 inning, no runs, no hits, one walk) also saw time on the mound.
The Spartans threatened in the top of the first after a two-out triple from Cabral, but the Eagles escaped unscathed. The Prep came right back in the bottom of the first, moving a man to third before scoring on a passed ball to make it 1-0 Eagles.
In the second, the bats woke up for St. John’s. It started with an RBI single from George to push the lead to 2-0, then Palladino followed that up with an RBI single of his own to make it 3-0. Next up was D’Amico, who took the first pitch and belted it over the left field fence to make it a 5-0 game.
But the Spartans weren’t done, and St. Mary’s finally got on the board in the top of the fourth on a solo home run from Ortiz. Another runner came home on a passed ball later in the inning, cutting the deficit to 5-2.
St. Mary’s got one more in the top of the fifth, when Ortiz once again came up in a big spot and came through with an RBI single to make it 5-3.
But the Eagles answered right back, getting a solo home run from Pacheco in the bottom of the fifth before D’Amico notched an RBI groundout to round out the scoring.
St. John’s Prep (3-1) travels to BC High Monday afternoon (4).
St. Mary’s (3-1) is right back in action Saturday evening (6:30) with a home game against a tough Austin Prep team at Fraser Field.
