There won’t be any road upsets for Marblehead High baseball (15-6), the 24th seed, this year after No. 9 Westwood (15-6) defeated them, 9-3 in a Division 2 Round of 32 game on June 1. Last year, the Magicians defeated Somerville at home (13-11), before upsetting host Hopkinton (8-4) to advance to the Sweet 16, where they dropped a 4-1 decision to Westfield.
The Magicians tied up Saturday’s game against Westwood at three apiece, but the home team regained the lead in the bottom half of the frame with three runs of its own. They tacked on three more in the sixth to seal the deal.
Senior co-captain Chris Cannuscio pitched the first 5.1-innings, giving up 10 hits, three walks and nine runs, six of them were earned. He struck out two. Carter Sahagian recorded the final two outs in the sixth after issuing one hit and one walk.
The Magicians managed just four hits, including one double by Charlie Sachs that knocked in a run.
Cannuscio singled in a run. Stef Shepard also drove home a run. Riley Schmitt and Downey were credited with one single apiece.
Coach Mike Giardi’s team still enjoyed a winning campaign, averaging three wins for every loss they experienced throughout the last three months. In a one-game elimination state tournament, where long bus rides are now the norm, a superlative regular season can quickly turn sour. But the players, many of whom were a part of last year’s run as a Top 16 club, should look at it as the cumulative effort that got them to play into June.
