BEVERLY — Despite losing Saturday in the Ray Gallant Baseball Tournament, Lynn came back Sunday to sweep a pair of games against Salem and Beverly to earn a spot in tonight’s (7:30) loser’s bracket final at Harry Ball Field.
Before Lynn can play, however, Peabody and Danvers will play at 5:30 in the winner’s bracket final.
Sunday belonged to Lynn’s Shea Palmer. In the first game, an 8-4 win over Salem, he came on to pitch in the first inning after his team fell behind 4-0. He blanked Salem the rest of the way, giving up only five hits and striking out six. Palmer also had three hits, including two doubles, and three RBI.
That win put Lynn into the second game of the day, against Beverly, and the Lynners won that one, 5-3. Juniel Guzman went the distance, giving up three runs in the first inning and nothing thereafter. He struck out seven and gave up five hits.
Once again, it was Palmer providing the bulk of the offense. The Wyoma Little League star hit a first-inning double to knock in two runs. Jack Marks singled, and scored the go-ahead run for Lynn.
A day earlier, a dominant pitching performance from Peabody’s Justin Powers was simply too much for Lynn to handle in a 5-0 win.
Powers (6 innings, 16 strikeouts) and reliever Mike Geissler (1 inning, 2 strikeouts) combined to strike out 18 Lynn batters. Lynn managed just one hit, a double by Palmer in the top of the fourth inning.
It was far from routine, however. Lynn had runners on base in every inning but one, as Powers walked three and also hit three Lynn batters.
“For Justin to have 16 strikeouts against that lineup was just incredible,” said Peabody manager Gary Lynch. “It’s a little rough with wood bats, but we have done a lot of BP and while we didn’t have that many hits, the kids did a good job getting the bat on the ball. Lynn is a really good team, and I was nervous about this game as they beat a very good Beverly team, but the key for us was Justin was on. He beared down when he had to and, in my opinion, is the cream of the crop.”
Powers’ counterpart, Brady Warren also struggled with control. He allowed only one hit in 2 ⅓ innings but walked six Peabody batters, four of whom ended up scoring.
Peabody scored the only run it needed in the bottom of the second inning. Tyler Fawcett led off with a walk, then Warren hit Harry Lynch and walked Daniel Zizza to load the bases with no outs. Jeff Roach ripped a line drive that Warren snagged for the first out of the inning, but Warren walked Geissler to bring Fawcett home with the first run of the game. Warren settled down and got Joey Raymond on a popup to Palmers at third and Christian Federico on a grounder to second baseman Jack Anderson.
Lynn let a huge chance get away in the top of the third. With one out, Powers hit David Brown, then walked Brady Bullock and hit Brendan Falasca to load the bases. Powers battled back from a 3-1 count on Yordy Contreros to catch him looking, then got out of the jam on Eldrien Bonilla’s fly ball to Daniel Zizza in right.
Peabody added three more runs in the bottom of the third to stretch its lead to 4-0. Thomas Fabbo, Ryan Brunet and Powers (intentional) walked to load the bases for Fawcett, who brought Fabbo home with a sacrifice fly to center. Lynch reached on an infield error to reload the bases for Zizza, who lined a 2-run single to plate Brunet and Powers. Anderson relieved Warren and got the final two batters to contain the damage.
“That was a big hit there especially after we had only gotten the one run the inning before when we had bases loaded and no outs,” said Lynch. “He is a versatile player who can play anywhere and it’s hard to think he is just an 11-year-old.”
Peabody added another run in the bottom of the fourth inning when Joey Raymond singled and got all the way to third on an outfield error, then scored on a wild pitch.
Powers struck out the side, 1-2-3 in the top of the fifth, struck out three of four batters in the sixth and then was relieved by Geissler in the top of the seventh. Geissler got the first two outs quickly with a strikeout and putout at third by Ryan Brunet, who made a highlight reel behind-the-back catch on a foul ball. After walking Anderson, Geissler put the game away with a strikeout, Peabody’s 18th of the game.
“We had plenty of opportunities but we did not cash in and they did,” said Lynn manager Jeff Earp. “We were chasing bad pitches and helped them (Peabody) out in a big way. “I was impressed with the effort Brady Warren gave us as, other than the all-stars, he has never really pitched at this level. His knuckleball was on, and he just gave a tremendous performance, it was all guts, and also Jack Anderson did a great job with his curve ball. Peabody is an outstanding team, and we had our chances, but couldn’t break through.”
