Smith, Lynn 15’s stay alive

LYNN – Fighting out of the losers’ bracket is nothing new for the players on the Lynn 15-year-old Babe Ruth all-star team, having won a state title last year as 14’s by winning six straight games from there.On Monday at Clancy Field, the same group continued its amazing run in elimination games. Gabe Smith pitched 5 1/3 innings of 2-hit relief, striking out seven, while Lynn used a 3-run first inning to take the lead and an eventual 4-2 win over Braintree.”I have faith in these kids,” Lynn manager Brian Mulvey said. “Nothing came easy for us (Tuesday). When you get to this point in a tournament like this, the pitching gets tough.”Alex Fiste got the start for Lynn and lasted into the second before leaving in favor of Smith. Well all he did was hold Braintree to a single run in his five-plus innings and limited it to a single hit.”Gabe came in and did a heck of a job of shutting them down,” Mulvey said.Lynn also needed its fast start as Braintree reliever Sean Brooks came in and held Lynn to four hits in 5 1/3 innings of work, dancing in and out of trouble all game.After Braintree threatened but didn’t score in the top of the first, Lynn took advantage of a chance given to it by Steve Wasil in the bottom of the inning.Smith walked to lead things off and then stole second. He went to third on a passed ball before Brendan Carritte drew a one-out walk and then stole second. Sam Hill’s grounder to the hole at short got Smith in to give Lynn a 1-0 lead.Fiste followed with a grounder to Christian Fox at short that retired Hill, who had stolen second, at third but scored Carritte for a 2-0 lead.A stolen base from Fiste preceded a walk to Tyler Gauthier and a passed ball. An error on the play allowed Fiste to scamper in to make it 3-0, Lynn. Wasil departed after a walk to Steve Carroll and Brooks struck out Chris Mulvey to end the inning.”That first inning was big,” Mulvey said. “It was nice to start like that and make them chase us a bit.”Braintree got one run back in the second, but a comedy of errors on the basepaths prevented further damage.With Tim Harrington at second and Bill Murphy on first, Matt Comeau singled to right. Harrington was held at third on the play while Murphy came sliding into the bag as well. When Harrington stepped off the bag, Cam Mulvey tagged him for the first out.Brooks followed with a single that scored Murphy to make it 3-1. Two batters later, Smith came in for Fiste to get Lynn out of trouble.Lynn got that run back in the bottom of the third by finding some two-out offense. Fiste doubled to left and went to third on an errant throw back to the infield. Gauthier then slapped a hit through the middle to up the gap to 4-1.The hosts had an even better chance to break the game open in the fourth, when two-out walks to Cam Mulvey and Hill sandwiched a Carritte single to load the bases. But Brooks got Fiste to pop to first to end the inning.Braintree then made things very interesting in the fifth as Joe Zanca and Fox walked. A passed ball moved them up 90 feet before Zanca scored on Harrington’s grounder to second.But thanks to Smith, two runs would be as close as Braintree could get. After a perfect sixth, Smith had to sweat in the seventh as Fox’s two-out double got the tying run to the plate. But Conor McDonough went down looking to end the game.”We left way too many guys on base,” Mulvey said. “We have to get those guys across. But once these bats come around, they’re going to be loud.”