LYNN — St. Mary’s senior ace Aiven Cabral was on top of his game Friday afternoon in the opening round of the Doug Mullins Memorial Tournament, tossing a complete-game one-hitter to take down Lynn Classical by a score of 7-0 at Fraser Field.
Cabral was almost completely unhittable, as 17 of the 21 outs he made came via strikeout. Only two runners reached base all game long — one via hit and one via error — and 65 of his 83 pitches went for strikes.
On the offensive side of things for the Spartans, Zach Fisher went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI while Jack Marks went 1-for-1 with two RBI. Eric Bridges went 2-for-2 with one RBI and three runs scored, while Tad Giardina went 1-for-2 with one RBI and two runs scored. Ryan Fraher went 1-for-3 with one RBI, while Jason Donohue (2-for-3) added two hits and John Nowicki (1-for-4) had one.
The lone hit for the Rams came from Brady Warren, while Almani Medina reached base on an error.
Ethan Wilson took the loss on the mound for the Rams, going the first four innings and allowing three runs on five hits with one strikeout. Kevin Whalen and Knico Ramirez each pitched one inning of relief.
The Spartans got the scoring started in the bottom of the second, when Fisher ripped a two-run double to put St. Mary’s ahead 2-0.
Marks knocked an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth inning to make it 3-0, then the Spartans started to stretch things out in the fifth. Giardina and Bridges knocked back-to-back RBI singles to make it 5-0, then an RBI single from Fraher and an RBI sacrifice fly from Marks rounded out the scoring.
Cabral handled things from there, moving 1-2-3 through the sixth inning and taking a no-hitter into the seventh. Cabral then struck out the first two batters of the seventh before Warren broke up the no-hitter with a two-out single. It didn’t make much difference, though, as Cabral struck out the very next batter to end the game.
Lynn Classical (14-5) will now take on Swampscott in the consolation game of the Mullins Tournament Saturday (1) back at Fraser Field.
St. Mary’s (11-9) will take on Lynn English in the championship game of the Mullins Tournament Saturday (4) back at Fraser Field.
