Tide baseball beats Chelsea, Charlestown after dropping heartbreaker to host Lynn Classical

Everett plays host to non-league Belmont later today, then Revere on Patriots Day

By Joe McConnell

After winning the first two games of the season against Mystic Valley and Greater Lawrence, the Everett High School baseball team (4-2) split its next four, but it still maintains a winning record.

Second-year varsity coach Malik Love has turned the program around quickly. It now features a good stable of veteran talent with a resurgence of young players among the underclassmen, which bodes well for not just this year, but also the foreseeable future.

Love literally brought the program into the 21^st century this year by implementing the Hudl video service that shows his players what they are doing right and wrong during each game, while also giving them the opportunity to upload clips of themselves for potential college coaches to view for scouting purposes.

“There’s a lot of (athletic) talent here in Everett, and it’s not just in football,” said Love. “Hudl now gives our baseball players a chance to showcase their talents for college coaches down the road, while also learning what they are doing wrong in the present.”

The Tide opened up last week by losing a heartbreaker to Lynn Classical at Lynn’s Fraser Field, 1-0 on April 8. But then, they won their next two games against host Chelsea (14-1, April 10) and Charlestown (13-6) in the home opener last Friday afternoon. They began this week with a 11-1 loss to Lynn English on Monday night back at Fraser Field.

Lynn Classical pushed the winning run across the plate in the home half of the second to beat its Everett visitors during this classic pitchers’ duel last week. Derek Soper gave up two hits, four walks and one earned run over five innings. He fanned six. Tri-captain Nordeivy Santana came in to pitch the sixth inning, issuing one hit and two walks, while striking out one.

Unfortunately, the Everett offense was shutdown on only two hits. Freshman M.J. Guida and Isaiah Goffigan supplied that offense with one single apiece.

“This game against Lynn Classical shows our improvement as a team,” said Love. “We definitely have better chemistry and more confidence this year.

“But we still have to do the small things better,” added Love. “We have to play situational baseball by bunting more often during strategic times of a game, and getting runners into scoring positions to create more runs with sacrifice flies.”

In the makeup game against the Red Devils last Thursday at Chelsea’s Carter Park, the Everett boys scored in four of the five innings, before the game was called, because of the mercy rule. The visitors scored four runs in the first, third and fifth innings, and another two in the second during this rout, while banging out half as many hits.

Nordeivy Santana (single, triple) and Guida (single, double) were the big hitters in this game with two hits apiece. They each knocked in a run.

Tri-captain Jevaun Berberena and sophomore Tyler Freni were credited with one single apiece. Berberena drove home two with his hit. Chris O’Neil singled in a run.

Freni pitched the first 2.2-innings, and allowed two hits, one walk and one earned run. He whiffed six. Guida tossed zeroes across the board throughout the next 1.1-innings to go along with two strikeouts. Santiago was also perfect on the mound to close out the game in the fifth inning. He had one strikeout.

“It’s a great sign for the future to already see the contributions of Guida and Freni in just the first six games of this season,” said Love. “They are playing with a lot of confidence to get us off to a winning start, along with our senior leadership of Albert Santana, Nordeivy Santana and Jevaun Berberena.”

The home opener at Glendale against non-league Charlestown was another offensive show for Everett. They scored three times in the first and six more in the third to take a rather comfortable 9-2 lead early on in the game. The offense was simply on fire, banging out 11 hits over six innings.

Freni was credited with three singles and a walk, and scored twice. Guida also singled three times to go along with a walk. He too scored twice, while knocking in one. Soper had two singles and two walks. He scored and drove in a run, as well. Reinaldo Santiago came through with two singles and three RBI, and scored once. Tri-captain Albert Santana singled in two runs, and crossed the plate one time.

Nordeivy Santana (1 RBI), Berberena (2 RBI) and Goffigan (1 RBI) factored into the offense, as well.

Armani Negron (3 hits, 3 walks, 3 earned runs, 2 strikeouts) pitched the first three innings, followed by Nordeivy Santana (1.2-innings, 5 walks, 1 strikeout) and Guida (2.1-innings, 1 unearned run, 1 strikeout).

After hosting Somerville on Wednesday (April 16), the Tide will stay at Glendale to play non-league Belmont later today (Friday, April 18), starting at 4:15 p.m. Revere then comes to town for a game on Patriots Day morning, beginning at 10 a.m. The Everett boys will head to Medford’s Playstead Park two days later (April 23) to take on the Mustangs at noon to close out spring school vacation week.