The Everett High baseball team pulled out an exciting 3-2 win at Dennis Yarmouth in 10 innings in a Patriots Day game on Monday.
Shawn McGrath was the starting pitcher for the Crimson Tide and hurled what EHS head coach Joe Marchese termed “the best game of his varsity career,” as Shawn tossed eight innings, allowing just one run and six hits while fanning six and walking only two.
“He kept us in the game and gave us a chance to win,” said Marchese.
The contest was a scoreless pitcher’s due until the sixth when both teams posted a run on the board. Dan Concannon (who was three for five on the day) singled, moved to second on a base hit by McGrath, and then advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Raymond Gallagher. Matt Costello then lofted a sacrifice fly to right that brought across Concannon with the first run of the contest.
However, Dennis Yarmouth bounced back in their half of the sixth to knot matters at 1-1 which eventually sent the affair into extra innings.
After a scoreless eight and ninth frames, Everett put together a rally in the 10th. McGrath drew a one out walk and after Gallagher grounded out to first, Costello worked the pitcher for another base on balls to place runners at first and second with two outs.
That brought up Costello, whose slow roller down the third base line was thrown away by the D-Y third baseman, allowing McGrath to come home with the go ahead run and leaving runners at second and third. Matt Cafarella then banged a base hit up the middle to rescue Costello with what would prove to be a crucial insurance tally.
Chris DiNapoli, who came on to start the ninth in relief of McGrath, fell victim to some poor fielding support that allowed a D-Y run to come across, but with the tying run on second, Chris fanned the final D-Y batter (his fourth K in his two innings of work) to end the game and earn the victory.
“That was a big win for us,” said Marchese, whose squad had dropped its previous two encounters to Wilmington and Triton Regional last week. “It was important not to get too far below .500 this early in the season,” said the coach, whose squad now stands at 2-3 on the season.
McGrath pitched well in the loss to Wilmington (three hits and three earned runs in five and one third innings of work), as did southpaw Joe Saia in the 5-2 defeat to Triton (three hits, eight strikeouts, and no earned runs in four and two thirds frames), but a lack of timely hitting and some crucial errors doomed the Crimson Tide.
Marchese and his crew have a busy stretch ahead this week with three games to finish the vacation week. The Tide were scheduled to travel to Somerville yesterday (Tuesday) and then to Cambridge tomorrow for a 10:00 a.m. encounter. They also will travel to Lynn English Saturday for another 10:00 a.m. contest.