LYNNFIELD — The Lynnfield baseball team was right there for most of the day, but just couldn’t get the bats going in a 3-1 loss to visiting Pentucket Thursday.
Lynnfield manufactured their lone run on a sacrifice fly in the fifth, but other than that it was the same old struggles.
“The biggest thing for us is we’re not hitting with men on base,” Lynnfield coach John O’Brien said. “(Thursday) we made contact. We’re just not making the big hit when we need it. And it’s not just one guy, it’s multiple guys. It’s guys that we’re counting on.”
To his credit, Pentucket pitcher Ethan Hunt pitched a great game. Lynnfield made plenty of contact off the right hander but were held to just three hits.
“At least we were barreling up the ball (Thursday),” O’Brien said. “(Hunt) was a pretty good pitcher. He threw the ball pretty well, so that’s encouraging.”
Tyler Scoppettuolo had the game’s lone RBI on the sacrifice fly that drove in pinch runner Aidan Burke to tie things up at 1-1 at the time. Evan Balian (1-for-2, double, walk), Spencer Riley (1-for-3, double) and Luke Martinho (1-for-3, single) all had hits.
Blake Peters also had a solid day on the mound for Lynnfield. The lefthander kept the Pioneers in the game, throwing 6 1/3 innings and allowing two earned runs, seven hits and four walks with five strikeouts.
“I think there were a few at bats that went long, a few walks, but he got out of it,” O’Brien said. “The kids played good defense behind him. The outfield played well. I think he made some good pitches when he had to. He kept us right in the game at 1-0 and we ended up tying it. But we made the error in the last inning and that kind of opened the door for them. That’s the way the season has been.”
The first mistake was a passed ball in the first that allowed Pentucket to grab an early 1-0 lead.
Lynnfield didn’t make any noise until the fifth when Trent Balian followed Evan Balian’s double with a walk but the bats went silent.
Next inning, Riley laced his double. Burke went in to run and reach third on a passed ball before Scoppettuolo’s sacrifice fly knocked him into even the game at 1-1.
Things weren’t tied for long when Peters went back out for the seventh inning and Pentucket got to him. A single and an error put runners on for Trevor Kamuda and Chase Dwight, who each knocked in a run to put Pentucket up 3-1 and end Peters’ outing.
“(Peters) hit his max (pitch count) anyway,” O’Brien said. “He had thrown Saturday in a late game so he was right there. That’s probably my fault, I asked him if he was all right and he’s a pretty tough kid, a senior, so of course he’s going to say yes.”
Tim Pivero finished off the last two outs for Lynnfield, allowing one walk and striking out his last batter, but it was too late for the Pioneers to rally in the bottom half of the seventh.
“It’s a little bit of a struggle at the plate but the kids are working,” O’Brien said. “That’s all we can do is keep going. We have seven seniors so we’ll be back at it Saturday.”
Lynnfield (1-5) hosts Georgetown Saturday (2).
