LYNN — Monday was just not the day for the Lynn Babe Ruth 15-year-old All-Star team.
Between a lack of hitting and some shaky pitching against a solid Newton team, things started to snowball in an 11-1 five-inning loss at Fraser Field.
“We were chasing a lot of pitches outside of the strike zone,” Lynn coach Christian Burt said. “It was pretty tough. I think, as a team, if we’re more disciplined and the pitchers are more disciplined (by) hitting spots and walking less guys, that can usually lead to more wins.”
Facing a pitcher on top of his game in Newton righthander Ben Valente didn’t help Lynn’s cause either. Valente tallied eight strikeouts while allowing just the one run.
Josh Jimenez, who came into the game after a handful of substitutions in the third inning had Lynn’s only hit of the game and stole a pair of bases.
Stephen Pedro scored the lone run for Lynn, stealing third base before reaching home on a passed ball. Juneil Guzman (hit by pitch), William McCafferty (hit by pitch) and Diggy Rodriguez (walk) all reached base.
On the defensive side of things, second baseman Darnel Leon had a solid game highlighted by a pair of nice plays in the second inning which saved Lynn a pair of early runs.
On the mound, Gabe Diaz got the start and threw two innings, allowing three runs on four hits and four walks with two strikeouts. McCafferty followed with 1 1/3 innings, allowing two hits, four walks, one hit batter and seven earned runs with one strikeout. Almani Medina finished off the game with one earned run on two hits, two walks and one hit batter with a pair of strikeouts.
Despite the lopsided final score, this was anyone’s game before a monster seven-run fourth inning by Newton.
But Newton still took an early, three-run lead thanks to a run each in the first three frames. Valente helped his own cause with an RBI single in the first. Luke Whitney (3-for-4, four RBI, one run) followed with his first RBI in the second before a passed ball plated another Newton run in the third.
Lynn produced some offense in the third but had a runner thrown out at home on a fielder’s choice to lose some momentum. Thankfully, Pedro scored later in the inning to still put a dent in the Newton lead at 3-1.
But that was as close as things got before Newton blew things wide open in the fourth. An inning filled with RBI walks was capped off when Whitney laced a three-run double. When the dust settled, Newton had a comfortable 10-1 lead.
Valente cruised from there, striking out his final five batters faced while the offense pushed across another run to end things after five innings.
Lynn starts the season at (0-1) and will hope to bounce back Wednesday against Medford.
“Tuesday we’re going to get back to the basics,” Burt said. “Start hitting some soft toss and just have a regular practice, so to speak. We’re not going to be too hard on the guys because it’s baseball. Sometimes these days happen. We’re just going to move forward and get back to basics.”
Babe Ruth 13-year-old All-Stars
Lynn 8, Danvers 3
Despite falling into a 3-0 hole Lynn rallied back the rest of the night at Fraser Field.
Gilbert Galva came up with a big two-out single to knock in a pair of runs and get the offense started.
Jake Peterson threw four perfect innings in relief with eight strikeouts.
Justin Jennings pitched the first three innings while Kyle Doney played a great game at catcher.
