PHOTO BY PAULA MULLER
Lynn’s Will Hunter throws a pitch against Peabody during a 14-year old Babe Ruth game in Peabody on Thursday.
By SCOT COOPER
PEABODY — Not much went right for the Lynn 14-year old Babe Ruth all-stars on the diamond Thursday night. Peabody scored three unearned runs early, and rolled to a 7-1 win.
Peabody righty Angelo McCullough went 6 2/3 innings, allowing only two hits: a double to Will Hunter in the fourth and a single by Dan Gisonno in the sixth. McCullough said he had his curveball working, and his teammates made the plays behind him all night.
“I was getting ahead in the counts early, and that helped me a lot. I used my curveball when I was up in the counts, and it worked very well for me,” McCullough said. “It boosted my confidence when my team got me the lead early, and they did well on defense too.”
McCullough whiffed eight and allowed just two walks, and induced 11 groundouts on the way to the win.
Lynn committed six errors in a win over Danvers, and pressed its luck against Peabody, making seven more. Peabody took full advantage.
Jake Murphy and J.C. Espinal both singled, and the bases were full when Hunter walked Calvin Ingemi. Joseph Castrichini singled and the throw home sailed out of bounds, allowing the first two unearned runs.
Lynn made two errors in the second, the first put Michael Silva on and he scored when Jordan Anzuoni reached on an error. Three walks and a hit batmen led to three more runs in the bottom of the fifth. Dylan Walsh singled in the sixth and came in for the final run on another Lynn miscue in the field.
Lynn finally got to McCullough in the top of the seventh. Hunter reached on a Peabody error, and came home on a fielder’s choice by Brendan Lannon. Castrichini relieved McCullough and whiffed the final batter of the game.
Peabody moves to 1-0, Lynn sits at 1-1, and all eyes will be on the Peabody-Danvers game Friday night. Lynn needs some help from Danvers for a shot at winning the tournament.
Lynn manager Dan Gisonno said his team has been taking innings off, and it cost them last night.
“We played well in the first and the seventh against Danvers (0-1), we slept through the other five,” Gisonno said. “Tonight we got a little something going in the seventh, but we had way too many mistakes. You can’t win ballgames making 5-6-7 errors, it’s not going happen.”
Peabody manager Chip Guiney said scoring first, and scoring early were the keys to the Peabody win.
“We came out fast got three hits and scored a couple in the first, we seemed to take advantage whenever they made a mistake, and our guy (McCullough) pitched great,” Guiney said.
