The Lynnfield baseball team hosted a non-conference matchup Saturday morning against Swampscott. The Pioneers silenced the Big Blue bats en route to a 6-0 victory.
The story of the game was Lynnfield’s starting pitcher Madux Iovinelli, as the sophomore threw a complete game shutout in his first start of the season.
Lynnfield head coach John O’Brien was more than pleased with Iovinelli’s performance.
“Madux has come out in relief a few times for us this year, so we decided to give him the start today, and I am glad we did,” O’Brien said. “Madux did an excellent job throwing strikes and keeping the Swampscott hitters off-balance… he controlled the game.”
Iovinelli finished the game with nine strikeouts, allowed three hits, and just two walks. He got stronger in the later stages, also, striking out the side in the seventh inning and retiring five of Swampscott’s final six batters to finish it.
“Madux is a big, strong kid and he showed that today, especially in the later innings,” O’Brien said.
As for the Pioneers’ offense, they jumped out to a comfortable 4-0 lead in the first inning. Key hits in the frame were RBI singles from junior Anthony Grabau, senior captain Henry Caulfield, and senior Devin Bolger.
Swampscott had a chance to get back in the game in the top of the third with runners on base. The Pioneers stopped the Big Blue threat, however, as Camden Marengi made a diving catch in left field to rob a hit.
Iovinelli followed up the highlight-reel play with a strikeout to end the inning.
After Lynnfield got out of the jam, the hosts added another run in the bottom of the frame. Caulfied produced another RBI single, which scored junior captain David Tracy and extended the Pioneers’ lead to 5-0.
Swampscott knocked on the door again, but Lynnfield answered again. After a Lynnfield error, walk, and balk, the Big Blue had runners on second and third with one out. The Pioneers wiggled out of another tough situation as Iovinelli punched out a Big Blue batter before collecting the fly out with the next batter.
Despite Lynnfield’s dominance in this one, O’Brien still sees room for improvement.
“Late in the game, we had a few baserunning mistakes and did not execute on a couple bunting situations either,” O’Brien said. “The lack of execution on situational plays like those could cost us to lose a closer game. Hopefully, down the road, we will correct these types of mistakes we made today.”
Lynnfield racked up 10 hits in total, three of which coming from the bottom six, seven and eight hitters in their lineup.
“We have a lot of depth on this team, and that depth was on display today,” O’Brien said.
Despite Swampscott being shut out, it did receive a solid performance out of the bullpen from sophomore Nick Berbue, as he threw the final three innings of the game.
Berbue kept Swampscott within striking distance, limiting Lynnfield’s offense to just one run and two hits during his relief outing.
Leading the Pioneers’ offense was the duo of Caulfield (3-for-3, 2 RBI, 3 stolen bases) and Bolger (2-for-3, 1 RBI).
