For The Dialog
WILMINGTON – St. Mark’s baseball team traveled to Salesianum on May 5, built a lead, watched it disappear, then pulled out a 7-5 win in eight innings. The victory gave the Spartans a sweep of the season series against the Sals.
St. Mark’s jumped out to a 5-0 lead. The Spartans got two in the second inning as Thomas Gibb was hit by a pitch, and courtesy runner Thomas Armiger advanced to third on a single by Matt Theodorakis. Chris Ludman singled to drive in Armiger, and Theodorakis came around when the leftfielder misplayed the ball.
They added a run in the third after getting runners to second and third with no outs. Gibb knocked in Andrew Reich on a sacrifice fly to center. Two more runs scored in the fourth. This time, Reich brought the runs home on a single up the middle with the bases loaded and two outs.
The five-run lead did not last long as Salesianum put two runs on the board in the fourth. Beck Million doubled, followed by a walk of Daniel Mersman. Christopher Hammond singled to load the bases. John Andreoli hit a fielder’s choice to score Million, and Mersman came in on a throwing error.
The Sals tied the game with three in the fifth. They loaded the bases on an infield single, walk and hit batsman. Zack Miller then crushed a ball over the leftfielder’s head to clear the bases.
Salesianum had a chance to win in the bottom of the seventh as they again loaded the bases, this time with two outs, but Mersman flew out to right to end the threat.
St. Mark’s picked up two in the eighth as Theodoraks singled and was sacrificed to second by Ludman. Jeremy Vogel singled to score Theodorakis, and Vogel took second as the throw went over the catcher’s head. Tyler Kaczmarczyk doubled to give the Spartans a 7-5 lead.
“To sweep them is nice,” Kaczmarczyk said. “We would have not liked to blow a five-run lead, but we dug deep and got the job done.”
The Spartans (12-2) travel to Sussex Tech on Saturday for a 1 p.m. start, while the Sals (8-4) host Lake Forest on Saturday at 2 p.m.
