KEENE, NH- Lynn’s Babe Ruth 15s moved to 2-0 in the New England Regional tournament, beating Pittsfield 6-5 at Alumni Field Saturday afternoon.
Some great defense and pitching combined with timely offense propelled Lynn to a second straight Regional win.
Chris Marks got the start for Lynn and turned in a strong outing, holding Pittsfield scoreless for the first two innings until his offense could strike.
Christian Figueroa started the game’s scoring in the bottom of the second, hitting a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Marks, who started the inning with a double in the left field gap.
Down 1-0, Pittsfield responded quickly in the top of the third with its own sacrifice fly by Jake Duquette to tie the game. Pittsfield took what would be its only lead of the game in the same inning on an RBI single to left field by Jack Reed to make it 2-1.
In a game of mostly back and forth offense, Lynn broke the game open in the bottom of the third. Jared Paone hit an RBI infield single to tie the game at two. Then with the bases loaded, Shea Newhall hit a two-run single to right field, making the score 4-2 Lynn.
The offensive explosion did not stop there as Figueroa got another sacrifice fly RBI and another run scored later in the inning on a wild pitch, and Lynn held a 6-2 lead.
Marks then went out and continued his strong performance, holding Pittsfield to two runs until he ran into a bases-loaded jam in the top of the fifth. He walked Reed with the bases loaded, making it 6-3, and Jake Peterson came in for relief.
On Marks’ performance, Lynn manager Leon Elwell said, “Chris Marks was great again today. He is just a bull out there and gets stronger as he goes.”
After a run scored on a bunt and wild pitch, Peterson eventually got out of the jam, and Lynn was clinging to a 6-5 lead.
Lynn could not add to its lead, but Peterson was nails in the final two innings, going 1-2-3 in each. However, he had some great defensive help, especially in the top of the seventh from catcher Kyle Cummings.
For the first out of the inning, Cummings ran from behind the plate and backed up a throw that got by the first baseman throwing out the runner who tried to advance to second. Peterson forced the remaining two outs to seal Lynn’s 6-5 victory.
Regarding his team’s performance, Elwell said, “I am just really proud of our group. The way that we hit, just the timely hitting. Defense, you saw it today; we played great defense. We are a great defensive team.”
He added, “Overall, I am happy with the first two games; they could not have gone any better.”
At (2-0), this pretty much assures Lynn will be the top seed in Pool B, meaning they will get a bye on Monday. Lynn has head-to-head victories over Three Corners Vermont and Pittsfield, who play against each other tomorrow and are both 1-1, while Lynn’s opponent tomorrow, Rochester, NH, is 0-2.
Even so, coach Rich Avery says the team will approach tomorrow with a winning mindset.
“We are at a point right now; we just cannot let up. I do not think the kids have it in them to let up. Either way, we are just going into the next game as we would in any game and just keep playing sound defense and try to get up ahead like we usually do and try to get ahead and stay ahead,” said Avery.
