Welcome to the century club, Rory Gentile.
With Gloucester baseball’s convincing 10-3 victory over Marblehead on Monday afternoon, Gentile has now officially reached his 100th career win as head coach of the Fishermen.
It was only a matter of time before the veteran manager — who debuted with the GHS program back in 2019 — hit the milestone mark, and his team helping him get it done with an explosive day at the plate only made it that much sweeter.
“It just means I’ve spent a lot of time away from my family, and I appreciate my wife first and foremost for allowing me to do this,” said Gentile, who now sports a 100-41 career record after his team moved to 13-1 on the year. Only Joe Orlando (123-79) has had more wins at the helm in Gloucester.
“Thinking back to win No. 1, I’ve got to do this with so many awesome kids that commit to me and the program and each one of them is very special. I love every single win, I love every single coach that’s coached with me and volunteered their time, and I also hate every single loss, so I think about that, too.”
Gentile accomplishing the feat certainly wasn’t a lock from the jump on Monday, as the Magicians broke open a scoreless affair with a pair of runs in the second inning.
Sophomore Will DePhillips started things off with a solo shot over the high fence in right for his first homer of the year before junior Grey Leventhal mashed a triple to left center to score another. Leventhal was once again a bright spot in the loss, finishing with three of his team’s five hits, including a double.
“He’s been hitting the ball extremely well, doing a lot of good things at the plate,” said Marblehead coach Mike Giardi, his team now 7-6. “We’re trying to kind of figure out that lineup around him so we can get some more runs on the board.”
As Giardi alluded to, that was just about all the offense Marblehead would get for the remainder of the contest. Leventhal drove in one more for his squad in the top of the seventh, but it was too little, too late at that point.
Following three consecutive singles from Nash Marshall, Lukas Albano and Mike Marino, Nico Alves would connect for a sac-fly to left for the Fishermen’s first run in the bottom of the third.
Nolan Aiello then crushed a solo homer to right in the fourth before Alves ripped a double down the left field line to give Gloucester its first lead at 3-2.
Then in the fifth, Albano broke things open with a 3-run bomb to deep center, making it a 7-2 game and all but sealing the deal.
“One of the things we’ve worked on with (Albano) is keeping both hands on the bat a little longer than he was and letting the ball travel,” said Gentile. “When he does that he really does have some pop. We had been missing him for two games after he hurt his finger getting hit by a pitch in the Danvers game (a 15-inning win), and when he’s back in our lineup as a senior captain you can really see the difference that it makes.”
Albano would finish the contest 2-for-4 with four RBI. As a whole, Gloucester had 10 hits, with Mike Marino (two hits, two walks) and Alves also shining. Luke Salah added a pair of knocks towards the bottom off the lineup as well, driving in an insurance run in the sixth.
The offensive production from top to bottom was a welcome sight for Gentile and his staff after their squad had struggled at times to consistently perform at the plate in recent contests.
“It’s been a tough five game stretch for us in that we’re not doing the things we need to do to put us in line to be successful which is putting the bat on the ball, on the ground and through line drives,” said Gentile. “You saw through the first two innings we had at least two strikeouts and multiple infield pop-ups which is just not a way to put pressure on the other team.
“Ultimately when we finally got back to what we do best, which is doing that, you saw it opens everything up,” he added. “Then the pitcher feels some pressure, he throws one down the middle and suddenly we hit a home run.”
Defensively, Gloucester limited the errors and got some strong pitching overall from both Pip Emerson (5 innings, 6 Ks, one earned run) and Nolan Aiello (2 innings in relief, 3 Ks).
“We trust all our arms … our pitchers are awesome, they’re the strength of our team, and we’ll continue to lean on them,” added Gentile.
Gloucester now turns the page to Wednesday’s clash at Saugus, and it may have to do so without the services of their star, Alves. The junior standout collided with Marshall in the outfield on Monday as the two raced after a foul ball. Alves appeared to injure his hand on the play and was forced to leave the contest and go get stitched up. It’s unclear how much time, if any, he will miss.