Swampscott Junior Legion rallies

LYNN – The Swampscott-Marblehead Junior Legion baseball team battled back from a six-run deficit Tuesday to defeat Lynn, 8-7, at Breed.Both teams are heading to the District 8 playoffs later in the week, although Swampscott-Marblehead, with a 13-5 record, will have a bye in the first round. Lynn will play its first game Thursday in Lynn, but the opponent, time and location are still being worked out.Lynn was in control of this one early on, scoring two runs in the first inning, two in the third and three in the fourth to take a 7-1 lead. Swampscott-Marblehead waited patiently and when the visiting team saw an opening, it pounced, scoring six runs in the fifth inning and then going ahead for good when a run scored on a wild pitch in the sixth.?The kids played hard,” Swampscott-Marblehead manager Lou Olivieri said. “They didn?t give up.”Both teams went to the bullpen a couple of times but when the smoke cleared, Gavin Sullivan picked up the win. Lynn manager Jim Hennessey had decided before the game to give several of his pitchers some work. P.J. Hatchouel started and went the first two innings, followed by Brendan O?Neill, Kyle Morrill and Donnie Weisse. Lynn got things going in the first inning when Weisse hit a shot back to the mound that went off the pitcher?s leg. He ended up scoring on a Hatchouel single to right field. Hatchouel came home on an O?Neill single to center field to give Lynn a 2-0 lead after one.Swampscott-Marblehead got one run back in the top of the second when Jake Cooper singled and scored on a single by Anthony Ross.It was all Lynn for the next couple of innings. In the third, Mike Luciano singled and after a flyout to center field, Joe Tardiff singled. With runners on second and third, Weisse put one over center fielder Sullivan?s head, but Sullivan retrieved the ball quickly and threw it to his cutoff, who got Luciano at the plate.Swampscott-Marblehead?s celebration was short-lived, however, because two runs ended up scoring on an error, giving Lynn a 4-1 lead. The gap grew wider in the fourth when O?Neill singled and scored on an error and Luciano singled to right field, driving in Eric Giguere, who had reached on an error, and Hennessey.The 7-1 lead seemed pretty solid, but Swampscott-Marblehead was just getting going. The visitors scored six runs in the sixth inning with errors, walks and aggressive baserunning by Swampscott-Marblehead proving deadly. The game was tied 7-7 after five innings. Swampscott-Marblehead put the game away in the sixth when a run scored on a wild pitch. Lynn went down in order in the sixth inning and again in the seventh.Although Hennessey would have liked to head into the playoffs on a winning note, the loss didn?t affect the playoffs.?It was certainly a game we would have liked to win,” he said. “Swampscott?s the town next door and it?s a rivalry.”Lynn heads into the District 8 playoffs down four players, Andrew Moccia, Herbie Newton, Tyler Story and Jerry Ortega. All four are on the Lynn Babe Ruth 15-year-old all-star team, which is still alive in the state tournament.