LYNN— The sweltering heat wasn’t enough to slow the Pine Hill Braves down Sunday morning.
Pine Hill trailed by 2-run margins through the first two innings but shook its slow start en route to a 15-4 win over the Lynn Shore Braves in a Lynn City Series elimination tilt at Gallagher Park.
“It was good to see the bats come alive,” Pine Hill manager Joe Driscoll said. “We started out a little rough but they battled back and finished strong.”
Pine Hill advances in the series and will play West Lynn Monday (5:45) at Gallagher. The two teams met last week when West Lynn grabbed a 3-1 victory.
Anthony Seals led Pine Hill both on the mound and at the plate Sunday. Seals fanned six over 2 1/3 innings of relief. He helped Pine Hill’s offense with an inside-the-park grand slam in the bottom of the second inning.
“Anthony had a big hit,” Driscoll said. “He came in and pitched a couple solid innings for us. I’m very happy for Anthony. He just came in, kept his composure and threw strikes. That’s what we needed him to do. On a hot day like (Sunday), I’ll take it.”
Lynn Shore jumped out to an ideal start. Jonas Auguste’s leadoff triple and Gio Batista’s walk put Lynn Shore runners on the corners out of the gate in the top of the first. Jaedon Mojica and Anderson De La Cruz followed with back-to-back RBI singles, plating Auguste and Batista, to give Lynn Shore a 2-0 lead. Pine Hill starter Jaiden Driscoll ended the inning with a strikeout to limit the damage.
Pine Hill wasted no time erasing its deficit. Driscoll and Seals sprinted home on heads-up baserunning plays in the bottom of the first, knotting the score at 2-2.
Auguste and Batista set the table again in the top of the second. After reaching on a fielder’s choice, Auguste scored on a double steal. Batista walked and put Lynn Shore up 4-2 when he raced home on a wild pitch.
No problem, said Pine Hill.
An 8-run bottom of the second flipped the script and put Pine Hill in the driver’s seat with a 10-4 advantage. Pine Hill’s rally started with Jake Gilbert scoring on a wild pitch. David Perez evened the score at 4-4 when he crossed home plate on Ryan Amirault’s bases-loaded walk. Seals highlighted the frame with his inside-the-park grand slam. Gilbert and Perez added consecutive RBI doubles.
“At this stage of the season, to see just about every kid get up and get a hit, it feels good,” Driscoll said. “To finish like that is awesome. I’m happy for the kids.”
Seals found his rhythm and struck out the side in the top of the third.
“We struggled early with finding the strike zone,” Driscoll said, “but Anthony came in and did what he needed to do.”
Pine Hill put the game out of reach with a 5-run bottom of the third. Seals fanned the first two batters in the top of the fourth before handing the ball to Amirault, who sent the final batter down via strikeout for the 15-4 final.
East Lynn 3, Wyoma 2
In the second game of Sunday’s double-header at Gallagher, the East Lynn Mets earned a hard-fought victory and remains unbeaten in the series. East Lynn has a few days of rest before the Mets take on their next opponent.
