LEXINGTON — The up-and-down season of the Lynnfield baseball team continued this past Saturday at the First Annual Ks for Childhood Cancer Tournament against Lynn Classical at Lexington High School.
The good news for the Pioneers that they survived a disastrous first inning and rallied from a five-run deficit to win a wild one, 7-6, and improve to 11-5
Make no mistake, however, it wasn’t pretty as both teams were not on their “A” games as errors, walks, baserunning miscues and mental mistakes ruled the day. But somehow, the Pioneers found a way to scratch out a win.
“It’s a win after a horrendous first inning by everybody,” said Lynnfield coach John O’Brien. “We left the bases loaded twice with no outs and got only one run home. We had horrible baserunning. We missed signals. But we got some clutch hitting when we needed it.”
Will Garofoli had a big day at the plate, going 4-for-4 with a double, two RBI and two runs scored.
Like O’Brien, Classical coach Mike Zukowski wasn’t too happy with his team’s performance.
“We took advantage of some things in the beginning of the game and were able to jump on them for five runs, but we just kept handing it to them,” Zukowski said. “An error here, an error there, we couldn’t handle bunts and weren’t able to make plays that we are supposed to make.”
The Rams jumped all over Lynnfield starter Matt Fiore in the top of the first, taking advantage of three walks and an error to grab a 5-0 lead.
Lynnfield’s climb back began in the third. Brian Cardarelli (1-for-3, run) beat out an infield hit. Jonathan Luders singled him to second, then Clayton Marengi (1-for-4, 2 runs, RBI) brought Cardarelli home with a double. Fernando Gonzalez (1-for-3) plated Luders with a sac fly to left, then Garofoli ripped a double to score Marengi and make it 5-3.
In the fifth, Jaret Simpson (2-for-4, run, RBI) led off with a single and scored on a wild pitch. The Pioneers loaded the bases on singles by Martinho (1-for-2) and Cardarelli (bunt) and an intentional walk to Luders (1-2, 3 walks, run) but Rams’s starter Brett Bucklin got out of the jam with three routine ground balls.
The Pioneers again had the bases loaded with no outs in the fourth on singles by Garofoli, Fiore (1-for-3, walk) and Simspon. Martinho’s sac fly to center plated Garofoli to make it 5-5. A walk to Luders reloaded the bases, but Bucklin escaped with a strike out (looking).
Classical got that run back in the top of the fifth. Dayshon Anderson (1-for-1, 2 runs) led off with a walk and scored on Jared DeFillipo’s RBI double to make it 6-5.
Lynnfield took its first lead in the sixth. Marengi reached on an error. Gonzalez singled him to second. Garolfoli’s sacrifice bunt was thrown into left field, bringing Marengi home. Pinch-runner Matt Juliano attempted to score from first, but was gunned down on a heads-up play by left fielder Brendan Lannon (1-for-4). Garofoli took third on the throw home and scored on clutch 2-out single by Simpson that made it 7-6, Pioneers.
Gonzalez came on in relief in the seventh to earn the save. Fiore, who settled down after the first inning, allowing one run on one hit over the next four innings, picked up the win (5 hits, 5 walks, 3 earned runs, one strikeout).
Catcher Simpson threw out two Classical baserunners to help the cause.
Zukowski said the Rams (11-4) have some work ahead of them.
“We have Salem on Monday, Gloucester on Tuesday and the Clancy Tournament over the weekend so we are looking at another four tough games,” Zukowski said. “We have to stop the bleeding here and talk about the mental game with these guys and figure it out. We have some things we definitely need to work on.”
The tournament field included Lexington, Needham, Catholic Memorial, St. Peter Marian, Wellesley and Arlington.
“That’s why I come down here,” O’Brien said. “We needed to play a good team like Classical and we needed to execute a lot of stuff we’re going to need in the playoffs. We got some of it done, and some of it we didn’t.
“The kids found a way to win which is a positive thing and this is a good day raising money for children’s cancer, which is a great cause.”
