Malden falls to McGrath, Everett

The Malden High baseball team headed into its last Greater Boston League game of the year with a chance to play the role of spoiler.

With the Golden Tornadoes the only thing standing between Everett and a perfect 8-0 run through the league, ace moundsman Bradley Applin took to the hill with intentions of putting a serious damper on Everett’s perfection party.

It just wasn’t in the cards.

The sixth-ranked Crimson Tide (15-2, 8-0 GBL) have an ace of their own, and they wrapped up their undefeated GBL campaign with a 6-1 victory over Malden yesterday at Pine Banks Park behind another stellar outing from Shaun McGrath.

The University of Rhode Island recruit fanned eight over six innings, allowing six hits and walking two.

“He was very good,” Everett head coach Joe Marchese said of his ace. “He kept them off the bases. It was a good win for us, a very good win.”

Matt Costello was 3-for-4 with a triple and an RBI, while Chris McCarthy went 4-for-5 and knocked in a pair of runs for Everett.

Applin (5ip, 13h, 7k, bb, 6r, 5er) struggled early, but pitched well after settling down. 

“Bradley threw alright. He started a little slow,” said Malden head coach Kevin Carpenito. “A lot of balls found holes ... (Everett) is a good hitting team, the middle of their lineup is tough. I give them a lot of credit, they hit very well.”

Malden (11-8, 3-5 GBL) sputtered out of the gate yesterday, as an error on what should have been the first out of the game—a routine popup on the infield—set off a three-run Everett rally, from which the Golden Tornadoes never really recovered.

“I don’t know if it was the weather or whatever, but we were a little flat,” said Carpenito. “When you play a good team like that and make mistakes, you lose.”

After being spotted a three-run lead, McGrath looked in full command, retiring the first six Malden batters he faced.

“Giving up three was tough,” said Carpenito. “It’s hard to play from behind against (McGrath) ... If he’s not the best, he’s one of the best in the league.”

It looked as though the home half of the third would be more of the same for McGrath, as he started the frame by fanning the first two Golden Tornadoes he saw. Then he got into a little trouble.

Matt Howe (1-for-2) worked a walk, and Adam Lucey (3-for-4) ripped a single. McGrath then plunked Austin Teal square on the back to load the bases. Catcher Marc Woodman (1-for-3, RBI) stepped into the box and drew an RBI walk, making the score 3-1.

That was as close as Malden would get.

McGrath regained his composure and kept the Golden Tornadoes off the scoreboard the rest of the way. Mike Yebba relieved McGrath for the bottom of the seventh, after Everett’s ace fireballer complained of soreness in his elbow during his at bat the previous inning.

The move was largely precautionary, and McGrath isn’t thought to be seriously hurt.

“He just had some soreness in his elbow, so we took him out,” Marchese said. “There’s no reason to push it. This game—obviously we want to win—but there wasn’t too much on the line here.”

The Crimson Tide would add a pair of runs in the fourth and one in the fifth to account for their final margin of victory.

Dakota Pellegrini will toe the rubber for Malden on Monday as they wrap up the regular season against Salem on the road.