ITEM PHOTO BY KATIE MORRISON
Lynn’s Damian Guadarrama carried the big bat Tuesday, slamming two home runs, including a first-inning grand slam.
By Scot Cooper
SALEM — For the fourth game in a row, the Lynn Little Leaguers faced elimination.
They responded in a big way, romping past Beverly, 9-2, in the Gallant Tournament final Tuesday night at O’Grady Field.
Lynn will have to beat Beverly once more to claim the Gallant Championship, with each having beaten the other once. They’ll play the rubber match Wednesday night at 6:30.
Damian Guadarrama knocked in six runs on two homers, supporting his pitchers, Anthony Mateo and Christian Moran, who got the win.
For the third straight game, Lynn went ahead big in the first inning. After Beverly’s Brennan Frost retired Anthony Marino and Gordo Duverge in the top of the first, things got a little crazy for the Beverly right-hander.
Aiven Cabral walked and stole second. Frost whiffed Moran for what should have been the third out, but the Beverly catcher dropped the third strike, and Moran beat the throw to first, with Cabral moving to third. Aaron O’Connor walked to load the bases for Guadarrama.
Guadarrama put Lynn ahead, for good, blasting Frost’s pitch high over the fence in center field to make it 4-0.
It wasn’t his only homer of the night as he smoked a fastball over the left field fence in the top of the fourth for a 6-0 Lynn lead.
Lynn manager Jeff Earp said he was happy to see Guadarrama have a monster night at the plate.
“Just a great kid, I’m really happy for him,” Earp said. “Every night we’re getting big hits from someone different. We’re really hitting the ball very well, hopefully that can continue tomorrow.”
“I told the kids two years ago (in the 2014 Gallant Tournament) that we dropped the first game and then ran the table to win the championship,” Earp said.
Marino kept the attack going in the fourth when he singled in Yordy Contreras with the seventh Lynn run. Cabral and Guadarrama scored off of Beverly relief pitcher Ryan Rushton to make the score 9-1 in the fifth.
Beverly scored one in the fourth and added another in the bottom of the fifth for its final run of the night. Rushton and Charlie Mack scored the runs for Beverly, who dipped to 3-1 in the tournament. The win improved Lynn’s record to 4-1.
Gallant Tournament President Sean O’Keefe, who manages the Salem team, said that Lynn has been rolling since beating his team, 3-2, in 11 innings on Saturday.
“I thought that this is how it would work out, with one game to decide it,” O’Keefe said. “Lynn has really been mashing the ball since our 11 inning game.”
Tyler Wilson had two RBI for Lynn, and Marino knocked in one. Beverly didn’t help itself, making four errors and walking five batters, including three free passes for Cabral.
Beverly manager Rich Bernard said that it’s exciting to have one game to decide the tournament, but he really would have liked less drama, and a win Tuesday night.
“We had a tough one tonight, we have to find a way to regroup overnight and get back out there tomorrow,” Bernard said. “We’ve got to come out hard and play good baseball Wednesday night.”