LYNN — The Lynn Tech baseball team just couldn’t get the bats going in a tight 2-0 loss to Commonwealth Athletic Conference rival Mystic Valley Tuesday at Fraser Field.
In fact, everything but the bats looked good for the Tigers in this one. Ben Tartarini threw all seven innings — allowing just one earned run — while Tech’s infield made every play it needed to behind him.
“We’ve come out a little slow this season,” Tech coach Rich Germano said. “We were hitting (recently) but (Tuesday) was a tough game. We had a great pitching performance from Ben. Our freshman Nevin Gonzalez had a double. We had some good games hitting but we just couldn’t string any hits together in a row. It’s a tough loss.”
Tartarini really did it all for the Tigers. The junior allowed six hits and three walks with two strikeouts, with his only earned run coming on a sacrifice fly in the fifth. And at the plate, Tartarini (2-for-2, walk) had two of Tech’s four hits and a stolen base. Wesley Morales had a hit as well.
On the defensive side, Jarod Moore shined at shortstop. The lone Tech senior had eight putouts, while Jacob Venture — who didn’t get peppered as much at third base — also looked sharp in the field.
“Jarod Moore is our only senior and he can play,” Germano said. “He played great defensively. They all did, really. Our third baseman Jacob played great. Other than that, we just didn’t hit. The pitching was there, the fielding was there, just no hitting.”
To be fair, the Tigers did run into Mystic Valley right-hander Brandon Paris at his best. Paris totaled eight strikeouts and walked just two Tech batters through seven innings.
Tartarini pitched his way out of a first inning jam to start the day off, and both pitchers went to work from there. Neither team could slide a run across until a misplayed fly ball put a runner on for Mystic Valley in the fourth. A single drove in a run for the Eagles later, but Tartarini worked out of a bases loaded jam thanks to a fielder’s choice putout from Moore to limit the deficit to 1-0.
Gonzalez led off the Tigers’ half of the fourth and laced one of the best hits of the day, a double to center field. A few pitches later, a passed ball put Gonzalez at third and Tech had three outs to try to even things up. But Paris was perfect the rest of the way, notching a pair of strikeouts and forcing a groundout to keep Mystic Valley in the lead.
A trio of singles in the top of the fifth put Tartarini in trouble again, and before the junior could work out of the bases-loaded jam, a sacrifice fly put Tech in a 2-0 hole.
Tartarini and Morales both got on base in the sixth and seventh, but Tech just couldn’t figure out Paris in time to mount a comeback.
The Tigers (1-4) will hope to bounce back with another game against the Eagles Friday (4) on the road.
