PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
Wyoma’s Aaron O’Connor, left, slides around Pine Hill catcher Danny Reddick with umpire Mark McCarron watching closely.
BY SCOT COOPER
PEABODY — Things started off just right for Wyoma for the third straight game. A homer by Anthony Marino got things rolling, and Wyoma eliminated Pine Hill, 8-3, Sunday afternoon at MacArthur Park in Peabody.
Just like he did in a 9-1 win over Winthrop Saturday, Marino went yard in the top of the first again Sunday, this time against Pine Hill’s James Ball. Steven Galatis had walked ahead of Marino, and it was 2-0 early for Wyoma starter Tyler Wilson.
Wilson breezed until the bottom of the third, when Pine Hill put a run up on the board. Junell Leon reached on a fielder’s choice, advanced on a passed ball, and scored on a Wyoma throwing error.
Wyoma put some distance between itself and Pine Hill, busting out for four runs in the top of the fifth. Ryan Crichton singled, and was lifted for pinch runner Tyler Duggan, who scored on wild pitch, and Christian Moran drove in Galatis and Aaron O’Connor with a hard single to right-center.
Leon got a couple back for Pine Hill in the bottom of the fifth when he banged a shot off the scoreboard outside the centerfield fence with David Brown aboard to make it a 6-3 game with one inning left.
Wyoma added a couple of insurance runs for an 8-3 lead in the top of the sixth off of Willie Miller, who came in for Leon in the fifth. Duggan, Galatis and Marino walked with one out, and Moran drove in another two runs, this time Duggan and Galatis, with a shot to right for the final two Wyoma runs.
Jack Anderson came on in the sixth, taking the ball from Wilson, who gave up just three hits, three runs and fanned six in his five innings of work.
Kyle Candelieri walked for Pine Hill in the sixth, but he was erased when Wyoma turned a nifty 5-4-3 double play to end the ballgame and improve to 4-1 in the tournament.
For Pine Hill manager Rich Avery, whose team finished 1-2, it’s tough to say goodbye to the players on his team.
“We fought back, we got it close, but we came up short,” Avery said. “These are great kids, they battled until the end, I’m going to miss them, and Pine Hill is going to miss them too.”
For winning manager Rick Anderson, the key was another fast start keyed by another Marino dinger early.
“It was good to get that lead early again, and good to get the leadoff guy on too, we’ll certainly take these fast starts,” Anderson said. “That’s how it’s been going, we have a fast start, and then a big inning, so hopefully we can keep that going into the next game, which is against Swampscott tonight (5:45) at East Lynn.
