It was another dominant performance for the Lynn Junior Legion Post 291 baseball team in Tuesday night’s 9-3 win over Braintree at Wilbraham’s Farrell Field. The victory kept Lynn undefeated (4-0) in the state tournament.
Lynn will play in the tournament final Wednesday (5) against Sandwich back at Farrell Field. Sandwich must defeat Lynn twice in order to advance to the regional and the “if necessary” will be played immediately after the first.
“I saw Sandwich a little bit,” Lynn manager Tony Luciano said. “They’re a hitting team. They put up runs and they hit the ball hard. I know our team and I know what we can do. We’ll be ready.”
Cormac Collins got the nod for Lynn Tuesday and went 2 2/3 innings in the start. Following in relief was Lucas Fritz, who went 4 1/3 innings.
“I was really happy for Cormac,” Luciano said. “He hasn’t pitched in a while. He came in and threw strikes. He’s a gamer and he’s a great teammate. With all the arms we have he hasn’t pitched a lot but he was excited to pitch.”
The big hits came from the bats of Shawn Anderson, Terrence Moynihan, Aidan Dow, Jared DeFillipo and Nico Galeazzi.
Lynn fell into a 2-0 deficit in the second inning before tying the game at 2-2 in the top of the fourth. DeFillipo led the inning with a walk and scored Moynihan’s infield hit. Moynihan scored on a fielder’s choice on Anderson’s groundout.
Braintree reclaimed the lead, 3-2, with one run in the bottom of the fourth. Lynn scored a combined seven runs over the final two innings to put the game out of reach.
“Knowing that we’re already in the final the kids still came ready to play,” Luciano said. “We rested a few kids. The kids responded in a huge way. I can’t feel better than I do. Fritz came in and shut the door. He did that again Methuen in districts and he did it again (Tuesday). Moynihan caught for the first time and he was a rock at catcher. He threw out two runners. Our defense, the plays we made were highlight-reel plays.”
