Chewing gum, sunglasses, walkup songs, and heads on a swivel for fly balls – well, that means it’s baseball season.
The Lynnfield Pioneers bested the visiting Lynn Classical Rams 8-2 in a Saturday morning matinee. A 4-0 lead in the first inning set the tone, and Lynnfield pitcher Rob Higdon made sure it didn’t get much closer than that.
“He threw very well. He only let up three hits and a couple walks, Lynnfield coach John O’Brien said. “The defense played very well behind him. That was huge.”
O’Brien applauded Higdon – a Rivier University-commit as of February – for mixing up his pitches.
“He puts a lot of work into it. He’s very conscientious,” O’Brien said of the senior. “I think he’s done a nice job.”
That statement couldn’t have been more true in the first inning – aka, when Higdon retired two batters early to fire up his dugout.
“Their first guy (Higdon) got us off-balanced. He did his job, give credit to him,” Classical coach Mike Zukowski said. “We couldn’t figure him out.”
And from there, like O’Brien said, everyone played well around him.
Lynnfield’s Dave Tracy and Anthony Grabau each took walks with the bases loaded to put Lynnfield ahead 2-0 in the bottom of the first – and, more importantly, it forced Classical to make a pitching change.
“The key thing is – pitchers have to throw strikes,” Zukowski said. “You have to throw strikes.”
The first inning ended 4-0 in favor of the host Pioneers. O’Brien has seen many opening-day games, and knows when a group shows up for the occasion or not.
That said, he was “very pleased” after seven innings.
“The kids were ready to play. The attitude was great,” O’Brien said. “The kids really wanted to come out and play well to start the season, which was great. I’m happy for them.”
Lynnfield’s Alex Gentile roped a single into right field to extend the lead to 6-1 in the fourth, and Dylan Damiani finished the scoring with a sac fly in the fifth to make it 8-1.
That’s all they’d need.
“We got some timely hitting [and] the guys ran the bases very well,” O’Brien said. “You can’t ask for any more than good pitching, good defense, and good effort,” O’Brien said.
Despite Classical runs in the third and seventh innings, it wasn’t enough to match Lynnfield’s early intensity.
“I give our guys credit. In the last inning, we kept on it, got a few hits [and] got another across, but [it was] too little too late,” Zukowski said. “That’s how baseball is.”
Nevertheless, Zukowksi said it was a positive to face a tough team in enemy territory this early.
“Oh, absolutely. This is an eye-opener for us,” Zukowski said. “We do have a lot of things to work on. It’s early.”
It certainly is. With Classical carrying 13 seniors, Zukowski hopes their experience rubs off on the youngsters.
“They’re carrying a ton of experience and, hopefully, we can go off that experience,” Zukowski said. “They’ve been in some big games and they’ve been in the [state] tournament.”
And despite the early-season loss, he added how important good chemistry is – something he’s already seen glimpses of.
“In the past, the teams with the best chemistry and camaraderie have been my better teams… And I told them that,” Zukowski said. “They’re hanging out, doing their thing off the field, and sticking together.”
