Lynnfield hangs on to reach District final for first time since 2002

LYNN – It was a perennial contender in District 16 at the start of the decade, and now, in the final year of this decade, Lynnfield is finally going back to play for a district championship.After seeing a 6-0 lead over Saugus American nearly evaporate in the final two innings, Lynnfield had to hang on as Greg Baselesco struck out Christian Diberto with the tying run at third in the sixth inning to seal a 6-5 win and the program’s first trip to the finals since winning it all in 2002.”We’ve shown that we can handle the pressure situations,” Lynnfield manager Kevin Canty said. “Now we’re in the spot that we wanted to be in. They’ve got to beat us twice now.”The Americans showed a ton of resiliency in fighting back over the final two innings and will play either Swampscott or Wyoma on Tuesday (TBA) for a chance to take on Lynnfield in the finals.”We were one pitch from basically coming back from the dead,” Americans manager Matt Jones said. “But the kids showed they can come back and we’ll be ready for whoever we play on Tuesday.”The game was scoreless into the bottom of the second when Lynnfield broke the ice against Saugus starter Diberto.Baselesco opened the inning with a double that was followed by a Justin Foley single. Alex MacLachlan followed with a sacrifice fly to left that scored Baselesco for a 1-0 lead. Lynnfield eventually loaded the bases, but Diberto got Jack Montesanto on a popup to end the inning.The following inning, Lynnfield threatened to put the Americans down for the count.Jake Rourke opened the inning with a double. Jake Burt followed with another double that increased the lead to 2-0. Baselesco then ripped a mammoth homer to center, giving Lynnfield a 4-0 lead.”Greg has been an on-base machine lately,” Canty said. “He has really come on the last couple of games.”Foley followed with a hit and went to second on an error. Reliever Steven Lima then issued walks to Tom Waisnor and Nick Davis to load the bases. Montesanto and Rourke made Lima pay for the walks as both singled with two outs to increase the gap to 6-0.It stayed that way into the fifth, when the Americans started their comeback. Nick Vokey led off with a double. Seth Horvath walked, and a groundout moved both runners up a base. Chris Mitchell’s single scored pinch runner Ryan Roche, and Lima’s walk with the bases loaded brought in Horvath to make it 6-2.Reliever Nick Pascucci, who took over for Foley with one down, struck out Diberto and Alex Pettenati with the bases loaded to end the inning.It would get even more hairy for Lynnfield in the sixth as Devin Jones walked and Jeff Rusconi singled, bringing Canty to the mound to summon Baselesco to try to save the game.He immediately walked Roche and plunked Anthony Cieri to force in a run and make it 6-3. Mitchell popped out to first before a passed ball and a wild pitch scored two more runs to make it 6-5. But Baselesco dug in and got Diberto swinging with Cieri standing at third to end the game.