SALEM — Lynn was hoping to start things off on the right foot in its Ray Gallant Tournament opener Thursday night, but a handful of mistakes and lack of offense early on proved costly in a 9-5 loss to Danvers at O’Grady Field.
Danvers pushed past five runs in the second inning thanks to three Lynn errors to jump out to a 6-1 lead. From there it was an uphill battle for a young Lynn team.
“We didn’t hit when we had to,” Lynn manager Jeff Earp said. “We started to come back, which was nice. We showed some life but then we got down again. We’re young. We have seven 11-year-olds. First base, second base, third base and catcher are all 11-year-olds. When you’re that young, you’re going to be unbelievably good next year but they’re a little intimidated now. We’re proud to have those young guys starting, we’re proud of the way they battled, they’re just a little hesitant out there.”
Josh Doney got the nod for Lynn and pitched well through five innings, allowing four earned runs on 10 hits with six walks and six strikeouts.
“I thought Josh pitched fantastic,” Earp said. “How many times can you pitch out of a jam before you get a little frustrated? He kept battling, I tip my hat off to him, he did a great job. Danvers was frustrated with him.”
At the plate, Jake Peterson (1-for-3, walk) led the way for Lynn with one RBI and a pair of runs. Michael Phelps (1-for-4) added a pair of RBI while Nate Cutone (2-for-2, walk) had one RBI. Kyle Doney, Christian Figueroa and Gilmer Galva all scored one run.
A pair of singles and a walk loaded the bases for Danvers in the first. Cole Waterman hit a high pop up to left field that dropped and scored a run to give Danvers an early 1-0 lead.
Lynn answered in the second. Peterson laced a lead off double and Cutone came through with a RBI single to tie the game at 1-1.
But it wasn’t tied for long. Danvers tacked on five runs in the bottom half of the second thanks to some Lynn mistakes. A pair of infield errors plated a pair of runs to start things off. Later in the inning, Waterman laced a single with the bases loaded to add another run and another infield error added two more to give Danvers a 6-1 lead.
Later in the fourth, Danvers loaded the bases again. This time, Parker Hamel laced a single to score two runs and stretch the lead to 8-1.
Lynn finally got the bats going in the fifth. A pair of walks and a single loaded the bases for Peterman, who drew another walk to score a run. Phelps followed that with a two-run double to cut the Danvers lead to 8-4. Another run crossed the plate on a passed ball later in the inning to cut the lead to 8-5.
Danvers tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth on a RBI single from Joe Debernardo to stretch its lead to 9-5.
That was all the support Danvers pitcher Cam McGonagle needed, fanning three batters in the seventh to seal the win.
With the loss Lynn moves to the losers bracket and will hope to bounce back Sunday against an opponent to be determined.