Jack Casale threw a dominating three-hit shutout to lead Cheverus to a 7-0 win over Deering in an SMAA baseball game Saturday at Kevin MacDonald Memorial Field.

From the end of the first inning into the fourth, Casale retired nine in a row until Riley Bartell’s two-out single. Casale then retired another nine consecutive batters before allowing a two-out single to Luke Hill in the seventh.

“I had both of my breaking balls working today, slider and curveball. That’s the first time this year I’ve had that, and that helps off the fastball,” said Casale.

The senior right-hander struck out eight and with no walks over his seven innings.

“Typically, (Casale) puts more balls in play, but he overmatched the bottom of their order today so he got more strikeouts than he normally does,” said Cheverus Coach Mac McKew. “He’s just a very efficient, effective pitcher.”

Casale also contributed two hits, knocked in a run, scored twice and stole two bases.

Cheverus (9-0) played errorless defense, which allowed Casale to work at a quick pace.

“It helps when all the guys in the dugout are behind me and the guys in the field are making plays, because then I know if I mess up, they’ll make a play,” said Casale.

“I think this was our fourth game in a row without any errors,” said McKew.

The Stags jumped ahead early, scoring three runs on five hits in the first inning. Maxx St. John roped a single to left field to drive home Griffin Watson with the first run. Two batters later, Dominic Casale hit a two-strike, two-out single through the right side to score Jared Brooks. Justin Ray smoked a line drive to left field for a single, bringing home St. John to give the Stags a 3-0 lead.

In the second inning, the Stags only had one hit, but they hit the ball hard off left-hander Joe Pelletier of Deering (4-4).

“I thought we were going to be on (Pelletier) all game. We hit the ball hard all game, though, right at the (defense). There’s nothing you can really do about that,” said Jack Casale.

Pelletier kept the game close for the Rams until Cheverus struck for four unearned runs in the fifth and sixth innings, with the help of four Deering errors.

“I’m proud of Joe (Pelletier) today. He was able to battle, started getting his breaking balls and changeups over for strikes (to) keep those guys off balance,” said Deering Coach Josh Stowell.

The bottom of the sixth inning began innocently with a groundout to third. Rylan Benedict and Cam Dube then reached on errors. After Dube was erased on a force play at third, Jack Casale singled to right field to score Dube.

With Casale on first and Watson on third, Casale stole second. Then, on an 0-2 pitch, Brooks hit a two-run double into the gap in right-center field for 7-0 lead.

“(Cheverus is) the best team in the league for a reason. I was proud of how the guys battled today. We were in it a for a while but just couldn’t string any hits together,” said Stowell.

Pelletier pitched a complete game, allowing nine hits while striking out two and walking one batter.