LYNN — Behind a stellar pitching performance from Yordy Contreras, the Lynn Shore Braves advanced to the City Series final with an 8-2 win over the Wyoma Red Sox at Kiley Park Friday evening.
Contreras tossed five innings and gave up two runs on two hits with 12 strikeouts. He reached his pitch limit after five.
“It’s unfortunate that we had a couple of defensive lapses early on that affected Yordy’s pitch count, because he was great today,” said Lynn Shore coach Paul Hartford. “And once he really got going in the middle innings he was blowing everyone away. It was a great job by him.”
Offensively for Shore, Eldrian Bonilla led the way with three RBI while Contreras, Elijah Quintana and Miguel Soto each knocked in a run.
The lone RBI for Wyoma came from Colin Nickolau on a sacrifice fly, while Shea Palmer, Ben Beyea and Jack Anderson split time on the mound.
“We just didn’t seem to have it tonight, and give credit to (Lynn Shore’s) pitcher, I knew he’d give us a big challenge,” said Wyoma coach Rick Anderson. “But when you don’t get the hits and you don’t pitch as well as you’re capable of, this kind of thing can happen. We’ve just got to rebound from this one.”
Wyoma jumped out to a quick lead in the top of the first inning. Anderson struck out to lead off, but advanced to first on a passed ball, took second on a fielder’s choice, then stole third and scored on an error to put Wyoma up 1-0.
Contreras recovered quickly and struck out three batters to end a four-strikeout inning.
Lynn Shore grabbed that run back quickly. Contreras got things going with a double to get into scoring position, then Bonilla knocked him in with an RBI single to centerfield to tie the score at 1-1.
The score remained there until the bottom of the third, when Lynn Shore exploded with a 7-run outburst to blow the game open. After two walks and an error loaded up the bases with no outs, Contreras stepped in and drew an RBI walk to give Lynn Shore the lead. Next up was Bonilla, who continued his strong day with a 2-run double to right field. Another run came in on a passed ball before Quintana knocked an RBI double to make it 6-1. Soto then hit an RBI single of his own. After one more run came in on a passed ball, the score stood at 8-1.
“That’s the great part about our lineup, we can really string a lot of hits together at times,” said Hartford. “When they swing the bats, they all can put the ball in play and make things happen.”
Contreras breezed through the next three innings, striking out six batters over that span. He was able to come out for one final batter to start the sixth and gave up a triple before he hit his pitch limit.
After an RBI sacrifice fly from Nickolau made the score 8-2, Bonilla closed out the game and gave Lynn Shore the win.
The Braves have the weekend off while they await their opponent in the City Series final, which will start Monday. Wyoma plays Sunday (2) against the winner of today’s Pine Hill-West Lynn game (also at 2 p.m.) to decide who gets to take on Lynn Shore.
Whoever makes it into the City Series final will need to win two games in a row to take down the Braves. Shore only needs to win one.
“We’ve got to win three games in a row if we want to win this thing, which will be tough,” said Anderson. “But we’re capable of that, and I think every team in this tournament has won three games in a row at one point, so it’ll be a challenge, but I think we’re up to it.”
