LYNN — The Lynn City Series Final is officially set, as the Pine Hill Braves notched a 7-3 win over the West Lynn Red Sox in the loser’s bracket final Friday night at Volunteer Field. Pine Hill scored six runs in the first two innings en route to the victory, while also getting a stellar pitching performance from Elijah Morin.
Morin was absolutely dominant on the mound in the win, tossing five innings and allowing three runs on just one hit with an astounding 14 strikeouts.
He also got the job done at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a double, a triple and an RBI.
Mason Palladino led the offensive attack, going 2-for-3 with two RBI and also pitching a scoreless inning of relief. Riley Driscoll went 2-for-3 with an RBI, while Jackson Barrett went 2-for-4.
West Lynn was only able to scatter two hits in the game, with Jianny Bernabel going 1-for-3 with a triple and an RBI and Rowan Merryman going 1-for-3 with a single.
Aidan Peterson took the loss on the mound after allowing six runs on seven hits with three strikeouts in three innings of work. Merryman came on in relief, pitching two innings and allowing one run on two hits with five strikeouts.
Pine Hill struck early and often in this one. After Morin struck out the side to start off the game, the Braves came up to bat and got to work right away. It started with an infield single from Barrett, who eventually moved to third on a passed ball. That set things up for Driscoll, who knocked him home with an RBI single to make it 1-0. An RBI single from Palladino followed, then Pine Hill was able to push across two extra runs thanks to a pair of West Lynn errors to take a 4-0 lead.
West Lynn got a little something going in the top of the second thanks to Brennan Malloy, who led off the inning with a walk and then advanced to second on a passed ball. He then stole third base before getting the jump on a passed ball and coming home to make it 4-1.
But Pine Hill answered right back. Barrett led off with an infield single once again, but this time it was Morin who knocked him home with an RBI triple. Next up was Palladino, who drove in his second run of the game with an RBI single to make it 6-1.
In the top of the fourth, West Lynn got another run back after Dante Giordano kept the inning alive by reaching first base on a dropped third strike. That brought Bernabel up to the plate, who smashed an RBI triple to the base of the right field fence and made it a 6-2 game.
Pine Hill rounded out its scoring in the bottom of the fourth with a run on an error, while West Lynn’s final run came in the top of the fifth via a passed ball.
In the top of the sixth, Palladino came on to close things out and keep the Braves’ season alive.
Pine Hill moves on to the City Series Final against East Lynn on Saturday (5:45) back at Volunteer Field. The Braves will need to notch two wins over East Lynn to take home the title, while East Lynn will only need a win on Saturday.
