Lynn tops Peabody, reaches Gallant final

SALEM – With one mighty swing by Brendan Powicki, one of the more dramatic games at the Gallant Tournament in recent memory came to a head.The Lynn shortstop launched a 325-foot 2-run rocket off Peabody reliever Alex Gomes in the bottom of the sixth inning to give his team the lead for good. Lynn added two runs later in the inning to insure an 8-5 win and a return engagement tonight (5:30) with Marblehead in the finals.After struggling in a 13-8 loss to Marblehead in the winner’s bracket final on Sunday, Lynn came to O’Grady Field ready to go.”These guys came to play,” Lynn manager Jeff Earp said. “They were focused and were ready to go against a hell of a Peabody team.”Lynn had a 4-1 lead after two innings before watching Peabody’s explosive offense belt four homers to take a 5-4 lead in the fifth. And with Gomes dealing strike after strike, it looked like Peabody would be moving on to the title game.Down to its final four outs, Lynn’s offense was sparked by the littlest player in its lineup as second baseman Tyler Way legged out an infield single. Powicki then didn’t waste much time in stunning the crowd.He took a Gomes fastball and launched it well into the night, nearly landing in the windshield of a minivan parked nearly 350 feet away in dead center.”That effort by Tyler was huge,” Earp said. “And Powicki did what he can do.”Rich Winchell followed with a single and Kyle Autilio reached on an error. A walk to Herbie Newton loaded the bases and forced Peabody to summon Jacob Zeuli to try to put out the fire.But Zeuli threw a little kerosene on the fire when his first pitch was wild, allowing Winchell to charge home for a 7-5 lead. A second wild pitch one batter later brought Autilio home from third for an 8-5 lead after six.Not wanting to take a chance, Earp called on Autilio to relieve Newton for the seventh after the Lynn starter had struck out 12 while not issuing a free pass in his six innings of work.Autilio didn’t waste much time in dispatching Peabody as he sandwiched strikeouts of Zeuli and Nick Palma around a Ryan Newbury lineout to ensure the win.”These kids were really ready for a great Peabody team,” Earp said.Lynn came out of the gates on fire, striking for a pair of two-out first-inning runs against Peabody starter Connor Corrigan. Corrigan got one of the runs back himself in the second via a solo homer to right.Zeuli cut further into the lead an inning later when he blasted a solo shot to right that made it 4-2. Jake Doherty made it 4-3 in the fourth on another solo jack before Peabody went ahead in the fifth on a single from Palma and a passed ball that scored Newbury.