Lynn Babe Ruth 13s start off fast, then outlast Beverly

LYNN – The Lynn 13-year-old Babe Ruth all-stars came out of the gates quickly on Tuesday at Clancy Field in their District 1 tournament opener against Beverly.The hosts scored four times in the top of the first and then had to hang on down the stretch as Beverly fought back to put the tying run 90 feet from home before Kyle Morrill slammed the door on a 5-4 win.Click here for a photo gallery.”We came out and set the tone and that’s exactly what we wanted to do,” Lynn manager Jim Hennessey said. “Overall, we played very well and it’s good to get a win in the first game.”The tone was set from the start for Lynn when Morrill drew a leadoff walk against Dylan Stevens to kick things off. He was erased on a Matt Desilets fielder’s choice before singles from Brandon Devin and Andre Gaudet brought Desilets around for a 1-0 lead.Joe Tardiff’s infield single was followed by a Brett Molea groundout that made it 2-0. Stevens balked home Gaudet for a 3-0 lead and Dan Hennessey capped the rally with a two-out single that scored Tardiff to make it 4-0.”That first inning was exactly how we wanted to get going,” Jim Hennessey said.Lynn had a chance to blow the doors off Beverly in the second as it loaded the bases against Stevens and reliever Cody Goodwin with only one out. But Goodwin wiggled out of the major-league jam and with it turned the momentum towards the black and orange.A walk to Hennessey with the bases loaded in the third upped the gap to 5-0 before Beverly began its comeback in the bottom of the inning.Devin got the first two Beverly hitters in the inning before Anthony Morrissey reached on an error. After a steal of second, he came home on Christian Miller’s double. Miller would score on Sean Perry’s single to make it 5-2 after three.Beverly would eat into the lead again in the fifth when Nick Cantaro singled and stole second. Morrissey followed with a walk and Cantaro would cross when Corey Camara’s fly ball to center was dropped. Devin, though, would dig in and prevent further damage.Lynn put the first two runners on in the sixth but saw the threat thwarted when Ryan Pierce was picked off first by Goodwin following a long rundown.Devin departed after six strong innings in favor of Morrill for the seventh. The southpaw got the first two batters easily before hitting Stevens with a two-strike pitch.Stevens promptly stole second and headed to third on a wild pitch. John Loreti followed with a walk and when he tried to steal second, an error allowed Stevens to race home and make it 5-4 and put Loreti 90 feet from tying the game.Morrill, though, battled hard and got Dan Cronin swinging to allow Lynn fans to exhale.”I am very pleased with how we played,” Jim Hennessey said.