BEVERLY — Graham Gavin might not have much in common with Picasso, but its fair to say Beverly’s ace right-hander painted like one of the masters Wednesday afternoon against rival Salem.
Living on the outside corner of the plate, Gavin struck out 11 Witches in five innings to help the Panthers grab a 5-1 win at an overcast and chilly Brother Roberts Field.
“Graham did an outstanding job controlling the strike zone and controlling at-bats,” said Beverly coach Jon Cahill, his team now 2-0.
Charlie Salerno retired six of the seven batters he faced in relief and struck out the side in the seventh; it was the third time in the game that Salem (1-1) made all three outs in a frame by whiffing. It’s tough to do much offensively with 14 total strikeouts — and the tough thing for the Witches was that seven of those were looking.
“First, Graham has great stuff. I coached him in travel ball and he’s always had great stuff,” said Salem coach Matt Hubauer. “We also looked at a lot of fastballs early. If you let those pitches go, you’re behind and then it’s kind of out of your hands.”
The Panthers were opportunistic offensively, scratching out five runs on just four hits. Captain Devin Koloski’s RBI single in the third plated Danny Pierce, who walked and moved over on Micah McManus’ perfect bunt single.
Beverly added three in the third inning courtesy of two walks, an error and one hit by sophomore Colby McLane. McManus had a sacrifice fly for an RBI and Pierce and captain Mikey Giello (walk) came around to score.
“Micah’s great bunt got it all started,” Cahill said. “Everyone wants to hit the liner over the shortstop … but whether it goes eight feet or 108 feet, they all count.”
Salem pitcher Jordan O’Malley battled all afternoon, getting out of a bases loaded jam in the first and allowing only one run. He threw five innings and scattered the four hits and worked around six walks.
“Give Salem credit because they hung in there. We couldn’t put them away,” said Cahill. “Their pitcher had to throw majority fastballs and he still kept us off the board for the most part.”
Junior captain Rocco Ryan of Salem hit a solo homer to left in the fourth to make it a 4-1 ballgame. J.C. Vasquez had Salem’s only other hit with a seventh inning single. The Witches made a few mistakes defensively, and the pressure the Panthers put on (6 steals) leading to runs.
“Beverly is a very well coached team,” said Hubauer. “They work counts and they’re very aggressive. They forced our hand in a lot of cases.”
Salerno doubled and scored in the fifth, coming around on an error. Jonathan Reyes walked twice and ranged into shallow center for a sensational diving catch that killed a potential Salem rally in the fifth.
For the Witches, senior righty Corey Grimes tossed a scoreless sixth inning in relief.