PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
Fernando Gonzalez earned the win for Lynnfield on Saturday.
By STEVE KRAUSE
LYNN — For Lynnfield baseball coach John O’Brien, Saturday’s game against Pentucket, played at Fraser Field as part of a day-long fundraiser to people who have Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, had a special meaning. And that’s not just because the Pioneers won, 5-3.
“I didn’t tell the players until afterward,” O’Brien said, “but my mother died because of ALS. So the minute we were asked to participate in this game, we were all in.”
The game itself was worth the trip to Lynn on a Saturday morning, even though technically, the Pioneers would have had to travel to West Newbury as it was the Sachems’ home game. The Pioneers jumped on Pentucket with three runs in the first inning and two more in the third. Meanwhile, pitcher Fernando Gonzalez kept the Sachems at bay until they scored three runs on him in the bottom of the seventh. Gonzalez helped the Pioneers raise their record to11-3 by striking out nine and scattering seven hits while walking two.
The Pioneers are still in the running to win the Cape Ann League championship, and have a big game Tuesday against Masconomet.
“Our pitching has been there all year,” said O’Brien. “Our hitting’s been in and out. We had some kids struggling early in the season with the bats, but lately they seem to have straightened that out, which is nice to see.”
The Pioneers staged a little two-out magic in the first when Justin Juliano, Mike Stellato and Dan O’Leary all singled, with O’Leary’s base hit knocking home the first run. Spencer Balian knocked in the other two with a double.
The Pioneers were back for more in the third. Juliano started it off with a one-out double, and with two out, O’Leary was hit by a pitch. Balian knocked home his third run of the day with a single, and Bryant Dana followed with a double to score the Pioneers’ fifth run.
“After that,” said O’Brien, “we couldn’t get anything else going. We got our bats on the ball, which is a good sign.”
Things remained the same until the last inning when Gonzalez appeared to be tiring and Pentucket scored three runs.
“He may have made a couple of mistakes,” said O’Brien. “But we told him to pound the strike zone too. He pitched some pretty good baseball.”
Sachems pinch-hitter Liam O’Neill led off by reaching on an error. A dropped third strike put Travis Bouncey on board, and Ryan DePaolo followed with a single to score the first run.
Kiernan Haley’s base hit brought the second run home to make it 5-2, and a sacrifice fly brought home the final run.
However, Gonzalez bore down, and got Steve Noyes on strikes to end the game.