Shawn McGrath pitched a complete game six hitter and Rob DeLuca banged two doubles and knocked in three runs to lead the Everett High baseball team to a 6-5 triumph over Methuen last Thursday.
However, despite having led 5-0 at one point, the Crimson Tide needed a balk by a Methuen pitcher in the sixth inning that allowed Cody Skeffington to come home with the winning run.
Matt Cafarella also had a nice day at the plate for the Crimson Tide with two hits and a run scored. McGrath earned his second win of the season, fanning 10 enemy batters. However, five walks, a hit batsman, and an Everett error provided Methuen with the opportunity to erase the 5-0 Crimson Tide lead.
In Saturday morning’s game with St. John’s Prep, Everett came out on the short end of a 12-5 decision in their home opener. Everett grabbed a 1-0 in the opening inning, but a seven run third frame for the Prep proved fatal for the Crimson Tide. Three walks and three errors proved Everett’s undoing in the big inning for Prep.
Everett battled back with three markers in the bottom of the third, but two more errors by Everett in the fourth led to three more runs and a 10-4 lead for Prep, a deficit that the Tide was unable to overcome.
The offensive production for Everett was led by Matt Costello with a base hit, a walk, and two runs scored. McGrath contributed a double, a walk, scored two runs, and had two RBI.
Southpaw Joe Saia started for the Crimson Tide and worked into the third inning, yielding to Zaref Pajazetovic, who went the rest of the way.
Coach Joe Marchese and his team took on Somerville yesterday (Tuesday) and travel to Cambridge tomorrow and to Marblehead Saturday morning. They return home to host Xaverian next Tuesday and entertain Malden next Thursday as they embark on a six game home stand.