PEABODY — The Lynn 15-year-old Babe Ruth team brought its bats to the park Wednesday, smashing 12 hits and plating 10 runs in a 10-1 win over Saugus at Donohue Field. Everything came together for Lynn in the victory, with near-perfect execution across all three phases.
“So far in districts, these guys have really relied on their defense and pitching to win games, but the hitting came out too and everything came together,” said Lynn manager Brian O’Connor. “The first game we got five runs, then the second one we scored 16 runs and we scored 10. So if the bats stay hot like this, we’re going to keep playing well.”
Tyler Wilson (2-for-4, run), Aaron O’Connor (2-for-4), Christian Moran (1-for-4, two runs), Jason Donohue (1-for-4) and Anthony Mateo (1-for-2) each had one RBI in the win, while Nolan Mulcahy went 3-for-3 with three doubles. Etaniel Almendarez (1-for-4, run) and Ryan Fraher (1-for-3, run) also contributed on offense.
As for the pitching, Moran got the job done in stellar fashion. Moran went six innings, allowing one run on two hits with four strikeouts. Patrick Mannion pitched a scoreless seventh inning, allowing one hit.
“He (Moran) isn’t a year-round baseball player like a lot of these kids are, he’s playing lacrosse and hockey and all these other things, so it’s great to see him come out and perform like this,” O’Connor said. “He’s a competitor, and when he throws one good game he goes on to throw two or three good games in a row, which is huge for us.”
For Saugus, Tyler Santoro (0-for-2, RBI), Anthony Cicolini (1-for-3, run), Tommy Falasca (1-for-2) and Zak Rizzo (1-for-3) contributed on offense.
Saugus struck first in this one. Cicolini led off the bottom of the first with a single and got the rally started, with Saugus eventually loading the bases with one out. That brought up Santoro, who drew a RBI walk to put Saugus on the board at 1-0. But Lynn avoided any further damage after Moran forced a 1-2-3 double play to escape the jam down just one run.
Then the Lynn bats went to work.
It started with a one-out double by Mulcahy in the top of the second. Next up was Wilson, who smacked a RBI single to tie the score at 1-1. A walk and a passed ball put runners on second and third, then a Saugus throwing error brought home both runners to give Lynn a 3-1 lead. Moran, who had reached on the throwing error, scored after stealing home to make it 4-1 Lynn.
The Lynners continued to add to their lead with another run in the third inning thanks to a RBI single from Donohue. In the fourth inning, Lynn got two more runs on fielder’s choices and another run on a RBI single from Mateo to go up 8-1.
Lynn rounded out the scoring in the sixth and seventh innings, getting one run each on RBIs from Moran and O’Connor, respectively.
Lynn (3-0) is right back in action Thursday evening (7:30) against Peabody back at Donohue Field.
“All the little things are being done right by us right now, so we just have to keep that up,” O’Connor said. “We’re just looking for more of the same out there.”