Baseball roundup: Home sweet homer for the Pioneers

Senior first baseman Mario Padovani’s grand slam over the left-field fence in the sixth inning provided the finishing touch on the Lynnfield High baseball team’s 13-6 win over Saugus Thursday in its home opener.The Pioneers (2-0) took an early 4-1 lead, only to see Saugus storm back to tie the game. The Sachems tied things up again at 6-6 in the sixth, but Lynnfield seized control for good with a seven-run sixth inning.Senior captain Vin DiCesare got things going with a two-run homer over the left-field fence. Senior Kirk Thomas padded the lead with an RBI single and Padovani blew it open with his grand slam.”The seniors came through with the bats,” Lynnfield coach John O’Brien said. “They did a nice job.”Garrett McNeil got the start for Lynnfield. He went 3 1/3 innings before giving way to Chris Grassi. Sophomore shortstop Dante Padovani actually picked up the win in relief with two scoreless innings. Padovani was also immense with the bat. He had four hits, including two doubles, drove in two runs and stole two bases.Catcher Tyler Calla had a two-run home run for the Sachems.Prep 3, St. John’s (S) 2At Gibbons Field in Danvers, the Eagles (4-1) got only three hits in the game, but two of them came in a 3-run first-inning outburst that led the way to victory.”The way we hit the ball to start, I thought we were going to score a lot of runs, but it didn’t turn out that way,” Eagles coach Pat Yanchus said.Catcher Trevor Manzi provided the big hit of the first inning as his 2-run single gave the Eagles a 3-0 lead. Starting pitcher Chris Carmain made that lead stand up for six innings, allowing two runs with five strikeouts, before Danny Haugh came in from short to close things out with a perfect seventh.Everett 5, Revere 2At Everett, the Patriots (0-2) trailed 5-0 after three innings, but they did trim the deficit a bit in the sixth when Steve Merullo, who took the loss, hit a long ground-rule double to drive in a run. Both Revere runs came in the sixth. Dominic Terezi (3-for-3, triple, walk) also swung the bat well.