Lynn 14s reach state tourney with extra-inning victory

DANVERS – The Lynn 14s made it a clean sweep of Lynn Babe Ruth teams advancing to the state tournament on Tuesday night with a thrilling 9-6 eight-inning win over Saugus that had more twists and turns than Lombard Street in San Francisco.The win means that the Lynners will begin their quest for a state title Friday in Arlington, where the entire tournament will be played.Lynn won the game with some two-out magic in the top of the eighth inning.After Saugus reliever Stephen Pettenati got the first two outs, center fielder Dax Billingsley — who had run down a fly ball in the bottom of the seventh with two out and the winning run at third — singled sharply to left.What followed was a nightmare for Saugus … and a bonanza for Lynn.Ryan Turenne lifted a fly ball to center that appeared to rise higher than the lights at Twi Field.It fell behind Saugus? Justin Horvath, and Turenne had a double and Billingsley scored all the way from first.That was the first of three straight run-scoring doubles — the other two coming from Jonathan Nicosia and Briston Maynard.?This was a great game,” said Lynn manager Peter Dawson. “It was a heart-stopper because they (Saugus) had the winning run on third and one out in the seventh and we got out of it.?Everybody hit,” he said, “but the top of the order was particularly impressive.”The 1-2 combo of Eric Pedro and Billingsley was impossible to get out all night long.Pedro had three hits and Billingsley had four.Each player scored three runs, and Billingsley knocked in Pedro all three times he got on base.Lynn took a 4-0 lead before Saugus? offense got going. Pedro and Billingsley accounted for three of the four runs, with Maynard driving home the other.But Saugus refused to go away.However, Saugus also made some baserunning mistakes, and got its signals crossed a couple of times, and those miscues hurt.Also, Saugus had trouble getting the big hit that could have propelled it into a lead on at least three occasions, including the seventh inning, when — as Dawson said — it had the winning run 90 feet away with only one out.Saugus halved Lynn?s lead in the bottom of the second on a two-run double by Andrew Mikedis and got another run back in the fourth inning when Mike Mabee scored on a wild pitch.Meanwhile, Jack O?Brien, who had relieved starter Darian Correia, stifled Lynn until the sixth inning, when singles by Turenne and Nicosia scored Pedro and Billingsley, respectively, to make it 6-3.Nicosia, who went seven innings before being lifted (mandatory) in favor of teammate David Hunter, gave up two Saugus runs on wild pitches, and when Horvath roped an RBI single to center, the game was tied at 6-6.Saugus had a golden opportunity to win in the seventh when O?Brien walked with one out, and went to third on a wild pitch.However, Nicosia got Pettenati swinging, and heaved a sigh of relief when Nick Dascoli lined out to center, with Billingsley in full stride tracking the ball down.