Lynn 14’s win second straight in districts

DANVERS – Behind a complete-game effort from starting pitcher Andrew Moccia, the Lynn Babe Ruth 14-year-old all-star team improved to 2-0 in district play with a 6-2 victory over Swampscott/Nahant. Tuesday’s victory came on the heels of an opening win over Beverly/Salem on Sunday, both at Twi Field.View Photo GalleryMoccia went the distance for the visitors, stranding the bases loaded in the first, before breezing through the next three, retiring 11 straight batters. The Lynn righty’s final line featured just one earned run on seven hits and seven strikeouts.Swampscott/Nahant starter Ryan Donnelly, the tough-luck losing pitcher, pitched very well in his own right. After keeping the powerful Lynn lineup at bay for two innings, Herbie Newton sent a deep drive to left that eluded Josh Rubin, scoring Nick Peveri, Tyler Way and Kyle Autillio.As it turns out, the three-run third proved to be the difference in the game for Lynn, but the team made sure it grabbed some insurance. The visitors scored one run in each of the next three innings.Antonio Felix’ aggressive leads with two outs in the fourth led to a wild throw to first from Donnelly, allowing the speedster to reach third. Felix would scamper home on an ensuing passed ball to increase the lead to four.An RBI single from Steffon Greyley in the fifth scored Moccia before Autillio plated Felix with an RBI base-knock in the sixth to wrap up the victors’ scoring. A game-changing diving catch by Greyley in centerfield on Sunday was a turning point for the Lynn squad.Besides six walks, Donnelly pitched valiantly for Swampscott/Nahant (four innings, three hits, three strikeouts) while Rubin was equally as effective in relief (three innings, one run, one walk).Lynn did have its chances to put things out of reach at several points, but stranded 15 runners in the contest. Swampscott/Nahant made some key plays when it needed to, and stayed within striking distance.The visitors’ defense was airtight all game long. Way made a nice catch in the second while backpedaling in shallow right before Newton stabbed a sharp grounder to third and threw a pellet to first an inning later.The home team did manage to scrape across solo runs in both the fifth and seventh innings. Matt Johnson singled to lead off the fifth before advancing to third on a wild pitch and passed ball. He would score on an RBI single from Josh Allen.Moccia started the final inning with a strikeout before sandwiching a walk in between two singles to load the bases. Caleb Mazow delivered an RBI single to cut the deficit to four, but Moccia would strand the bases loaded to end things.