SAUGUS – The game of baseball is immeasurably easier when you can put seven runs on the board in the first inning before the other team even records an out.The Lynn Babe Ruth 14s had that luxury Monday night at World Series Park, hanging seven up against Beverly and eventually winning, 11-4, in the loser’s bracket final of the District 1 tournament.The win means Lynn gets to play undefeated Saugus tonight (5:30) at World Series Park. Should Lynn win, the two teams will be back at it Wednesday, same time, same place. If Lynn falls, Saugus will win the championship. The same Saugus team also won the 13-year-old districts, and the state title, a year ago.”It was certainly nice to score all those runs,” said Lynn manager Mike Mageary. “It certainly took a lot of pressure off our pitcher.”And that was a good thing, too, because this was Lynn’s third game in three days, and it was imperative that Mageary get some serious innings out of last night’s pitcher, Franklin Nunez. He got five, with Matt Merritt pitching the last two.”Getting five innings out of Franklin was huge,” Mageary said. “We’ve had some injuries, and when you play this many games in a row, it can take a toll on your pitching.”We’ve been battling, and piecing it together,” said Mageary. “And while we’re happy to be in the district final ? it’s a heck of an accomplishment ? we’re not so happy that it’s as far as we want to go.”Lynn got the ball rolling right away, as P.J. Dorsey and Brendan Mageary drew back-to-back walks to lead off the game. Kyle Devin followed with a double, with Mageary stopping at third and Dorsey scoring.After Ben Bowden drew a walk, Shaddai Fernandez singled to left, scoring Mageary with the second run.Joe Field doubled to straightaway center, bringing home two more, and it was 4-0. And when Nunez helped his own cause with another base hit, Fernandez and Field came home and Lynn led, 6-0.That would be all for Beverly starter Eric Messina, as Evan Derosby took over. And even though one more run scored before the inning was out (on a base hit by Dorsey), he got things under control thereafter, holding Lynn scoreless until the fifth.Meanwhile, Nunez held steady, keeping Beverly off balance throughout his five innings. He gave up a run in the fourth on Derosby’s base hit; and another in the fifth thanks to an error.In the top of the fifth, Lynn struck for two more runs – one of them on a double by Matt Garrette and another when Kyle Devin reached on an error. Chris Narducci got on via an error in the sixth, with Fernandez coming around to score; and Dorsey walked and scored on a wild pitch for Lynn’s final run in the seventh.Merritt struggled in the seventh as Beverly scored twice with no one out. But he bore down thereafter, getting Marc Babcock to ground out to end the game.
