Lynn 14s open tourney play with convincing win

SAUGUS – For the Greater Lynn Babe Ruth 14-year-old all-star team, Thursday’s opening game of the district tournament against Revere went about as well as an opening game could go.Lynn drew eight walks off Revere pitching, played solid defense and got a stellar one-hit effort on the mound from Ben Bowden en route to an 11-1, 5-inning win at World Series Park that was ended when Bowden slammed a 2-run homer in the bottom of the fifth to invoke the mercy rule.”We showed a lot of patience at the start,” Lynn manager Mike Mageary said. “And then we went back and did what we do best. We put the ball in play and made them have to make the plays.”Lynn next plays on Wednesday, when it faces the winner of Monday’s Beverly-Wakefield game. Revere next plays on Thursday, when it meets the loser of the Beverly-Wakefield game.On Thursday, Lynn was the beneficiary of the eight walks and six Revere errors that helped turn a close game through three innings into a runaway train for the visitors over the final two.Neither team started well on a cold and dreary afternoon as Bowden and Revere’s Jonathan Van Buskirk worked scoreless first innings. After a scoreless top of the second by Bowden, Van Buskirk began to struggle with control problems.He walked Bowden and Matt Merritt around a Dante Vincarelli fielder’s choice to put two on with one out, but got Chris Narducci and Chris Coito to fly out to end the inning. Revere then broke on top in the third.Bowden walked Andy Restiano to lead things off before Drew Lauria reached on an error. Lynn then caught a break when Restiano was thrown out at third by Narducci following an errant pickoff attempt.Lauria went to third on another bad pickoff throw before Mark Maloney walked. A wild pitch with Devin Thompson up allowed Lauria to cross for a 1-0 lead.Bowden got out of the inning without further damage before his teammates’ patience at the plate was exhibited in the bottom of the third.Zack Harkness drew what would be the first of five walks in the inning to lead things off. He was erased on Shaddai Fernandez’ fielder’s choice before Van Buskirk got Brendan Mageary to line out to left for the second out.Then the wheels fell off the wagon. Kyle Devin walked and Fernandez scored on a passed ball and a throwing error. Two more walks to Bowden and Vincarelli preceded a fifth walk of the inning to Matt Merritt that forced across Devin to put Lynn in front for good.Bowden worked a quiet fourth before Lynn blew the game open in the home half, sending 12 batters to the plate, scoring seven times.Coito walked, forcing Van Buskirk out in favor of Robert Kyslowsky. Harkness bunted for Lynn’s first hit of the game with pinch runner Matt Guerrette going to third thanks to an error on the play.Fernandez laced a single up the middle, scoring Guerrette and Harkness to make it 4-1. Mageary walked and Devin followed with a double that made it 5-1.A groundout from Bowden scored Mageary for a 6-1 lead. Two more runs would score on errors before Joe Fields’ infield single scored Merritt to make it 9-1, Lynn.”We decided to play a little small ball and get the runners in motion,” Mageary said. “And it paid off big.”Bowden surrendered his only hit in the fifth when Mahoney doubled with two outs. But he made up for it handsomely when he followed a Devin double with one out in the fifth by lacing a bomb to right that ended affairs.