LYNN — Monday afternoon’s battle between the Lynn Classical and Lynn English baseball teams was an instant classic, as the two teams battled through a true pitchers’ duel before Classical took home the 2-1 victory at Fraser Field.
Rams captain Tyler Wilson started on the bump and was the difference-maker in the contest. Wilson pitched six complete innings, notching 14 strikeouts and four walks, only allowing two hits and one earned run. Wilson was also the difference-maker on offense going 1-for-3 with an RBI single in the third inning to tie the game at 1-1.
“Tyler is a competitor, and he came out dialed in more than usual today,” said Rams head coach Mike Zukowski. “The kicker is the fact that he was feeling under the weather today. So, for him to come out and do what he did was incredible.”
Victor Cambero took the mound for the Bulldogs and also pitched six complete innings. Cambero had four strikeouts and three walks, allowing five hits and two runs to cross the plate, only one of which was earned.
On offense, Eldrian Bonillla went 1-for-3 with an RBI single, getting the Bulldogs’ lone run across the plate.
Both teams really struggled to gain any momentum on offense, as the defenses for both teams stepped up big in certain jams to get out of innings. Most notably, in the bottom of the fourth Darnell Leon smashed a line-drive down the third base line with the bases loaded for the Rams, but Kenry Manzanillo snagged the ball out of mid-air and stepped on the bag to force a double play all in one motion — almost like something from ESPN’s Top 10 Plays.
“When these two teams play each other, it really is something else,” said Zukowski. “When these teams play, all records go out the window. It doesn’t matter if you’re 5-0 or 0-5. Esteban puts together a fantastic program over there, and they’re a hard team to beat.”
Despite the loss, the Bulldogs played exceptionally well. Outside of a few errors, there were minimal mistakes made by the Bulldogs. English’s dugout was never silent, especially going into the top of the seventh inning — where the Bulldogs loaded the bases but couldn’t get a ball into a gap for a hit.
“I tell these guys all the time that it doesn’t matter about the first inning or the last inning, what matters most is the current inning and the current at-bat,” said Bulldogs head coach Esteban Paula. “We just needed to keep our heads up, and unfortunately errors got us, but it was a great game overall.”
Lynn Classical (6-1) looks to stay hot on the road against Somerville Wednesday (10).
Lynn English (2-3) takes on Chelsea at home Wednesday (10) as it looks to bounce back.
