LYNN — The Lynn Post 6 American Legion baseball team got three RBI from David Barnard and five solid innings from pitcher Colin Reddy to help lift it to an 8-1 win over Saugus Post 210 at Fraser Field Wednesday evening. The win only gets more impressive when you consider that Lynn has played seven games in the past five days, including four games over the weekend.
“Getting through this stretch has really been a team effort,” said Lynn assistant coach Al Donovan. “We’re lucky that we have a lot of guys who are two-way players, so we can mix and match and keep everyone fresh on the mound when we need to. That’s been the biggest plus for us.”
Barnard went 3-for-4 with three RBI to lead the offensive attack, while Jomar Moreta knocked in two runs. AJ Luciano (2-for-3), Dayshon Anderson (2-for-3) and Kevin Durant (2-for-3) each had multi-hit games in the win. Lynn was also able to take advantage of a number of Saugus miscues, scoring runs on an error, a fielder’s choice and a passed ball in the game.
Reddy did his job on the mound, allowing just one unearned run over five innings while giving up three hits and striking out four. Devin Curley came on to pitch the final two innings of scoreless relief.
“Our pitching was once again a big plus for us,” said Donovan. “Just throwing strikes, no walks, no freebies. They went out there and made guys earn it tonight.”
Despite the lopsided score, it was Saugus who scored first in this one. After Reddy recorded two quick outs to open the game in the top of the first, Sean Devin drew a walk to keep the inning alive. Next up was Mike Mabee, who singled to right field. The throw from the outfield came into third base when Devin tried to take an extra base, allowing Mabee to make a dash for second. Then, a bad throw from the infield ended up in the outfield and allowed Devin to race home to give Saugus a 1-0 lead.
“We’ve been playing great defense all year long, we just had one miscue tonight,” Donovan said. “For the most part, tonight was another example of how well we play in the field at each level.”
Lynn recovered quickly, taking the lead in in the bottom of the first. An error and a double put runners on second and third for Barnard, who laced a two-run double into right field to put Lynn on top at 2-1. A single and a walk then loaded the bases for Brett Bucklin, who grounded into a fielder’s choice that allowed another run to come home to make it 3-1.
The bottom of the second was much of the same as Lynn added three more runs to take a firmer hold. Durant singled to lead off the frame, then made his way over to third after two consecutive groundouts before scoring on a passed ball to make it 4-1. Luciano followed with a single, then Barnard stepped in once again and smashed a RBI double to put Lynn up by four runs. After a throwing error on an infield single by Anderson allowed Barnard to come all the way around, Lynn held a commanding 6-1 lead.
Lynn added one run in the bottom of the third and another in the bottom of the fifth, both courtesy of Moreta, to round out the scoring. He knocked a sacrifice fly to right field in the third and brought home another run with a RBI groundout in the fifth.
After Reddy finished his day on the mound, Curley entered to pitch the final two innings and seal the win for Post 6.
Lynn will play its eighth game in six days Thursday evening (6) against Peabody-Middleton at Essex Tech.
