Classical baseball wins on windswept day

LYNN – For the second consecutive game, the Lynn Classical baseball team fell behind in the early going, only to rally back for a victory.On Wednesday afternoon the Rams trailed Salem 3-0 after one inning before taking advantage of the Witches? numerous miscues to eke out a 7-5 decision at blustery Fraser Field.After the inauspicious start, Classical grabbed four runs in the third, helped along by two errors. The visitors would retake the lead with a three-run fifth before the Rams responded with three of their own in the bottom half, assisted again by two botched plays by the Salem defense.The triumph comes on the heels of a similar result against Revere on Monday. After falling into an early hole, the locals fought back to earn victory No. 1 on a wild-pitch walk-off win.?I was really pleased with the fight we showed again today,” said Classical coach Mike Zukowski. “We went down twice and came back both times. We?re young, but we are giving other teams a real fight.”The promising start for the Witches began with a leadoff walk to Tim Ryan, who stole second on an ensuing pitch from Rams starter Justin Avery.Chad Fontaine followed with a bunt that was fielded by the pitcher before his throw to first was dropped by Andre Gaudet, allowing Ryan to score. A two-out single from Abel Nunez scored Fontaine and Matt Marquez (walk).The hosts? initial comeback featured a leadoff single from Brett Erelli before Damien Earp?s ground ball to second got through Fontaine, moving Erelli to third. Brad Scuzzarella plated both runners with a triple down the right field line.Brandon Devin followed with a ground ball to third, which was fielded by Marquez before an errant throw brought in the tying run. An RBI single from Gaudet gave Classical its first lead.Salem struck back with two runs on three hits in the fifth, the biggest a two-run, pinch-hit single from Christiaan Van de Stadt, who plated Fontaine and Marquez, who had reached on base hits.The resilient Rams answered shortly after, getting consecutive singles from Scuzzarella and Devin, the latter scoring the former, who had stolen a base in between.Pinch-runner Tyler Way and Gaudet (walk) would both come across on an ugly sequence that saw Marquez and first baseman Matt Ryan commit back-to-back throwing errors.Despite some control issues throughout his five innings, Avery would earn the win with help from Herbie Newton, who allowed just one hit in the final two innings. Avery picked up his first six outs via strikeout, finishing with seven total in addition to five walks.