LYNN — When the Lynn 13-year-old Babe Ruth All-Stars score runs, they score them in bunches. That was the clear message Saturday evening in Lynn’s 10-3 win over Swampscott at Breed Middle School.
The Lynners did the bulk of their damage in two innings, plating four runs in the top of the first and tacking on six more tallies in the top of the sixth.
“We came to life in that sixth inning,” Lynn manger Paul Hartford said. “I think we realized that the game was on the line. We didn’t want to have to play a game (tonight). We knew had to step it up and fortunately we were able to battle back.”
With the victory, Lynn continues its quest in the state tournament. The Lynners are 4-0 in tournament play and will host a home game Thursday when they take the field in the round of 16 as the No. 2 seed.
Swampscott, on the other hand, is eliminated from the tournament.
“We only have one Babe Ruth team at the 13-year-old level,” Swampscott manager Rich Reiling said. “I thought outside that one inning (top of the sixth) we played very well against one of the best teams in the league. I’m certainly proud of (starting pitcher) Jansen Landing and Sam Kearney caught every inning of the tournament for us. They really did a good job.”
Lynn started on the right foot with a 4-run top of the first. Back-to-back walks allowed Brady Bullock to score the game’s first run on an infield error. Knico Ramirez (1-for-4, 2 RBI) followed with a 2-run single, scoring Brady Warren and Yordy Contreras, bumping Lynn’s lead to 3-0. Deniel Ortiz’s sac-fly plated Ramirez and stretched Lynn’s advantage to 4-0.
Swampscott answered quickly with three runs in the bottom half of the first. A Lynn error, a walk and hit batsman loaded the bases for Max Brodsky (1-for-3, 2 RBI), who roped a 2-RBI single, plating Jansen Landen and John Cuttle. Brendan Norton raced home on a wild pitch and Swampscott found itself back in the game, down 4-3 after one inning.
“This is usually a pretty good hitting team,” Reiling said. “Lynn just has excellent pitching. They’ve scored a lot of runs in this tournament. It was pretty clear we weren’t going to score too many so I was glad we got a couple in the first.”
Both starting pitchers settled down after the first inning. Swampscott’s Landen pitched 5 1/3 innings and kept his team in the game until Lynn rallied again in the sixth inning. Landen finished with four strikeouts.
Lynn’s Ortiz bounced back after a tough start in the opening frame and pitched six innings with nine strikeouts.
“He (Ortiz) settled in nicely,” Hartford said. “He was rushing it a little bit. He hasn’t pitched in about a week. I don’t if he wasn’t ready but he hit a batter and walked a batter. That’s not what he usually does. Once we got that double play to end the (first) inning, he settled down after that and pitched very well.”
Lynn put the game away with six runs in the top of the sixth. Shea Palmer (1-for-4, RBI) started the rally with a RBI double and Jack Marks (1-for-3, RBI) added a RBI triple, making it a 6-3 Lynn lead. Marks scored on Dom Giordano’s (1-for-2, RBI) RBI single, boosting the lead to 7-3.
Heads-up baserunning allowed Lynn to add three more runs to their advantage. Marcus Martinez, Jack Anderson and Bullock each sprinted home on wild pitches, propelling Lynn to a 10-3 lead after five and a half innings.
Ortiz sent Swampscott down in order in the bottom of the sixth and Bullock closed the win with a 1-2-3 seventh.
