Lynn romps in Gallant opener

SALEM – For four innings Friday at O’Grady Field, Lynn had no answer for Swampscott pitcher John King in the opening round of the 2009 Gallant Tournament at Forest River Park.King held Lynn to two hits over the first four innings. But when he departed in favor of Greg Collier in the fifth, the switch went on for the Lynn offense, which would score 11 times in the final three innings in steamrolling to a 15-3 win and a game with Gloucester/Danvers tonight (7)”King was tough,” Lynn manager Jack Bartlett said. “But we were able to take advantage of our chances and the offense finally came alive late.”Lynn pounded out nine of its 11 hits over the final three innings to make a winner out of Katie Burt, who struck out 10 and allowed three earned runs in the route going win.”Katie was mixing her pitches well and was really spotting the ball well. That was the key,” Bartlett said.Kyle O’Connor got Lynn off to a quick start in the first as he led off the game with a double. King struck out the next two before Cullen Dunnigan doubled to left for a 1-0 lead.Swampscott left a pair in the first and another runner in the second before grabbing the lead in the third.Ryan January led off with a double and went to third on Collier’s one out single. Following a Collier steal of second, King slapped a two out single to center that score January and Collier for a 2-1 lead.Swampscott then added an unearned run in the fourth when Neil Lahrizi reached on an error, went to second on a groundout and third on a passed ball before scoring on Ryan Cresta’s infield single.King was also cruising at this point, retiring 10 in a row after Dunnigan’s first inning double. He departed with the lead in the able hands of Collier, Swampscott’s other ace from district play.Brent Lozzi rudely greeted Collier with a single. Bradley Dill then reached on what proved to be a costly error at third as the extra out would prove deadly to Swampscott.Brad Scuzzarella gave Lynn back the lead when he singled with one out, scoring Lozzi and Dill to tie the game at 3-3. Anthony de la Cruz followed with a walk before Collier got pinch hitter Mike Ausiello looking for what should have been the inning ending out.But the error now loomed large as O’Connor dug in and took advantage of the extra out given to Lynn by lining a 3-run homer over the right field bleachers to suddenly give Lynn a 6-3 lead.”Kyle hit the ball hard every time he was up,” Bartlett said.Burt ran into a little bit of trouble in the bottom of the fifth, loading the bases with two outs before getting Lahrizi to ground into a fielders choice.Lynn added to its lead in the sixth against David Reichert. Burt singled and Dunnigan followed with a free pass. A wild pitch moved each up a base for Dill, who brought both home with a base hit.Brendan O’Neil followed with a single to center that was misplayed, allowing Dill to score and make it 9-3 Lynn.Lynn then put the game away in the seventh, sending 10 batters to the plate in scoring six times, the coup de gras coming off the bat of Dill, who launched the first pitch he saw from Reichert some 330 feet over the left field fence for a grand slam that closed the scoring.