MARBLEHEAD — The Marblehead baseball team got it done early and never looked back, topping Lynn Classical 10-0 in a five-inning non-conference tilt at Marblehead High School Tuesday.
The Rams got a pair of runners on early against Marblehead but catcher Charlie Titus caught a runner stealing to help work out of the jam and delivered a two-run double in the bottom of the first. It was smooth sailing for the Magicians from there.
“Early on we catch a guy stealing and then we get a pop out,” Marblehead Coach Mike Giardi said. “Those are big plays right away. We’ve talked about it before — in any sporting event there are four or five plays that can really change the tone.
“Then offensively we got the big hits from Charlie that really opened things up,” Giardi said. “But on the other end, not giving up a run in that first inning really gave us back that energy. It was big for us.”
Jacob Sherf got the win on the mound, striking out nine and only allowing one hit. Titus ended up with four RBI and two runs scored on the offensive end. Shane Keough knocked in three RBI. Liam Mcilroy, Sami Loughlin, and Schuyler Schmitt all scored two runs. Thomas Groom scored one run.
“Jacob did a nice job,” Giardi said. “He’s going to Middlebury College next year hoping to try to walk on their team. He’s done a great job for a senior captain, lefty and smart. He pitches. He’s not one of those guys to try to blow it past you; he’s going to pitch and be smart.”
It wasn’t a good day for a Classical team that has now dropped two straight. Nico Galeazzi (2-for-3) was the only Ram to lace multiple hits. Tyler Wilson threw one and 1/3 innings before Kevin Whalen finished off the final two and 2/3 in his first varsity appearance.
“We didn’t help ourselves,” Classical Coach Mike Zukowski said. “We kicked the ball around a little bit. Pitchers have to throw strikes. That’s the problem right now is we can’t find the strikeout zone. We’re not too consistent on throwing our pitches. They’re getting those free guys on base and taking advantage of it and scoring runs.”
After getting out of the top of the first inning, Marblehead got right to work with the bats. Mcilroy and Loughlin both got on for Titus, who laced his first double to put a pair of two-out runs on the board. Keough followed with his single to plate Titus and push the lead to 3-0.
Marblehead almost mirrored its first inning in the second. Mcilroy reached on an error and Loughlin singled before Titus plated the pair on his second double of the night. Keough hit Titus home again and this time scored himself on a single from Groom. Marblehead carried a 9-0 lead into the third.
Schmitt singled and scored on an error in the third to stretch the lead to 10-0.
The Rams got a chance to extend the game with runners at second and third in the fifth but Marblehead shut the door and grabbed yet another win.
The Magicians (9-2) will host Beverly Saturday (2).
“It’s getting down to crunch time,” Giardi said. “We have Senior Week this week so there aren’t a lot of games. We rescheduled Beverly to Saturday, then we have Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday games next week. The week after, we have a Monday game then we’re right into tournament opportunities.”
Classical (2-2) will look to rebound Thursday (4) at Revere.
“I honestly think we got a little too confident the past two games,” Zukowski said. “You show up and you play some baseball. We still made some mistakes in those first two games; we took advantage of a lot of things. Now we get to two teams that are talented and we got beat bad (Tuesday).”
