Swampscott’s January untouchable against Nahant

REVERE – Ryan January, pitcher for the Swampscott Little League all-stars, stifled the bats of Nahant on Thursday, with an impressive 9-1 victory at Revere.Click here for a photo gallery.January started off a little slow in the beginning of the game walking three batters in the first two innings, but once he found his control he was unhittable. Swampscott coach Mike Leblanc was very impressed with his young hurler.”I have had the luxury of having Ryan for two years now. He is a great pitcher and once he gets into a groove, he becomes a very dangerous pitcher for the opposition to see,” Leblanc said.January finished his outing dealing a hitless 4 1/3-inning gem, striking out 12, letting up one run, and walking four. (Corey Bleau had the lone hit for Nahant in the game.) Nahant only put one ball in play off January, which was a weak ground ball right back to him.Nahant scored the game’s first run in the top of the second inning with an executed double steal from Peter Doyle and Bleau (Bleau scored).”We came out of the gate playing our game, tight defense, good pitching, and we squeaked a run across with small ball,” Nahant manager Eric Peterson said. “In the third inning, the wheels came off the wagon.”Swampscott answered in the bottom of the third inning, scoring six runs on six straight hits for a 6-1 lead.”You give away bases, you have a big inning,” Peterson said. “There’s no way to come back from that when you’re facing a pitcher like January.”Swampscott never looked back from that point, and Leo Wile hit a solo homer in the bottom of the fourth inning. Providing the rest of the offense for Swampscott was: Wile (2 hits, HR, 3 RBI, 1 run scored); Jack Fitzpatrick (1 hit, 2 RBI); Chris Murphy (1 hit, 1 walk, 2 RBI) and January (2 hits, one run scored). Coach Leblanc cannot wait until his team is able to get on the field again.”I like my team’s chances this year. My team works very hard, they all love the game, and play very sound fundamental baseball,” Leblanc said.Swampscott will wait till Saturday to see who it will play next.