Swampscott advances to Gallant final; Lynn eliminated

SALEM – Taking the bulk of a team that won the District 16 title into the 2010 Gallant Tournament, Swampscott was seen by many as one of the pre-tournament favorites. Well, after three games, Swampscott hasn’t disappointed.After knocking off Peabody in a thriller on Saturday, Swampscott clinched its spot in Tuesday’s (6:30) championship game with a 7-5 win over Danvers in the Winner’s Bracket Final at Forest River Park on Sunday.Swampscott will play either Danvers or Peabody in the finals, with the latter two needing to win on back-to-back nights to claim the title.”We play good defense and get good pitching. That’s been the story with this team since all-stars began,” Swampscott manager Derek January said. “And we’ve been waiting for the offense to come around a bit and we hit the ball well in both games this weekend.”Peabody stayed alive by the skin of its teeth earlier on Sunday as it trailed Lynn, 7-1, after four innings in an elimination game. But keyed by homers from Ben Irvine and Traverse Briana in the fifth, Peabody rallied to tie the game and then won it, 8-7, on Kyle Lynch’s walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh.Lynn (which had beaten Marblehead, 13-3, Saturday) got homers from Matt Cunha and Anthony Ross and a 2-run double from Herbie Newton to stake the team to a big lead. But Irvine slammed the door over the final five innings to allow Peabody a chance to rally.Click here for a photo gallery.Swampscott found itself in a hole quickly on Sunday as Danvers strung together four straight hits against starter Adrian Espinal to grab a 2-0 lead. That lead was cut in half quickly as Ryan January unloaded on a Steve Suchicki pitch with two outs in the bottom of the first to make it 2-1.After his bump in the road to start, Espinal settled down nicely and retired the next nine batters he faced.”We just kind of fell asleep in the middle of the game,” Danvers manager Dave Gotts said. “We got off to such a nice start and then fell back on our heels a little bit. And credit to their pitcher, he had us off balance.”Swampscott tied the game in the second when Espinal reached on an error, went to third on C.J. Howard’s double and scored on a Ben Rossman single. An inning later, centerfielder Donnie Weisse led off with an unexpected homer to give his team the lead for good.”Donnie has been swinging the bat good and I think he’s got a little more confidence now,” January said.Ryan January followed with a single and later came in on a Howard groundout to make it 4-2 after three.In the fourth, Swampscott tacked on three more runs as Leo Wile singled with one out before Weisse hit his second homer of the game for a 6-2 lead. January made it back-to-back shots moments later for a commanding 7-2 lead.Danvers, however, didn’t go quietly and made Swampscott work for the win in the seventh as it rallied against reliever Rossman. Mike Cravatis doubled; Hunter Costa singled and Harrison Gorman followed with a walk to load the bases with one out, bringing the elder January from the dugout to send his son to the mound to try to seal things.A fielder’s choice from Dan Lynch cut the lead to four before a wild pitch and an Ed Tylus single suddenly had Swampscott sweating at 7-5. But January struck out Tim Unczur to finally lock down the win.”Adrian pitched outstanding and Ben came in and threw very well for not having pitched basically all summer,” January said.Peabody closed the marathon Sunday by eliminating Beverly, 9-2, thanks to a home run barrage. Shortstop Christian Morales hit a pair and drove in four runs to pace the Peabody effort. Bobby Sullivan, Kevin LeBel and Joe Maguire also added dingers while Maguire went the distance to get the win on the hill.