Lynn, Peabody victorious in Gallant tourney openers

SALEM – The 28th renewal of the Ray Gallant Baseball Tournament kicked off on Thursday at Forest River Park with two of the tournament’s favorites in action.Lynn and Peabody have pretty much monopolized a spot in the finals over the past decade and both opened with convincing wins to set up a meeting on Saturday (4) at O’Grady Field.Lynn brought the lumber on Thursday as it pounded out 14 hits to give pitcher Herbie Newton plenty of run support in a 16-4 mercy rule shortened victory over Gloucester.Peabody capped the night in much the same fashion as Connor Corrigan struck out 13 and walked one over six innings of work while his teammates crushed three homers and scored 10 unanswered runs en route to a 10-1 win over Danvers.In the opener, Lynn actually found itself in an early 1-0 hole as Gloucester pushed across a run in the top of the first inning. After that, it was all the team in gray and white.Brendan Powicki lined a homer off the top of the fence with one out in the bottom of the first to tie the game. Matt Lauria’s RBI single two batters later broke the tie and put Lynn ahead for good.Two more runs would cross later in the inning to give Lynn a 4-1 lead after one.Lynn would tack two more runs on in the bottom of the second when Tyler Way scored on a groundout and Sean Devin raced home on a passed ball after bunting for a hit.Newton made one of his few mistakes in the third and Sal Costanza turned it into a 2-run homer that cut the lead to 6-3.”Herbie pitched really well,” Lynn manager Jeff Earp said. “He made a couple of mistakes but other than that, he was right on.”Lynn got a run back in the bottom of the third on a wild pitch that scored Lauria. It stayed that way until the fifth when Gloucester cut the lead to 7-4 on Lucas Harris’ solo shot.The dam finally broke in the bottom of the fifth on Gloucester as 10 batters came to the plate for Lynn. Lenny Ryan’s infield single scored one run and Nick Peveri’s bases loaded walk upped the lead to 9-4. Way drove in a run before Powicki upped the lead to 12-4 with a 2-run single.An outfield error scored two more runs before Newton polished off the win with a 2-run homer to left.The nightcap started much differently as Corrigan and Danvers’ Tyler Armstrong shut down the offense for three innings. Armstrong struck out seven of the first 10 he faced while Corrigan got five of nine on strikes.Nick Palma finally solved the Armstrong puzzle for Peabody in the fourth as his one out homer sent his club on its way. Four more runs would come across in the inning, capped by a 2-run Christian Kukas homer over the left field scoreboard for a 5-0 lead.Corrigan, meanwhile, continued to steamroll his way through the Danvers lineup. He had a strikeout in each of his six innings and set down 12 of the final 19 he faced via the whiff.Peabody added to its lead in the fifth as Pat Maguire belted a 2-run homer and Palma scored on an error for an 8-0 lead. Single runs in the sixth and seventh made it a 10-0 Peabody lead.Danvers’ Jack Ward spoiled the shutout bid when he homered in the bottom of the seventh against reliever Jake Doherty.