Earn No. 3 seed, bye in D3N tourney

Published June 5, 2019

WAKEFIELD — The LHS baseball team accomplished their goal of finishing the regular season strong as they defeated Wakefield 8-2 on May 30. 

The Pioneers exploded for eight runs in the 2nd inning and got a strong start out of senior Will Garofoli who pitched a complete game, scattering five hits and two runs while striking out four against a solid Wakefield team who were Middlesex League Freedom Division champs in Div. 2. 

That win gave the Pioneers an overall record of 15-5 and earned them a No. 3 seed and a preliminary round bye in the Div. 3 North Tournament. 

The Pioneers will play the winner of Weston (14) vs. Wayland (19) in the first round. The date and time of that game was yet to be announced at press time. 

MATT FIORE had two base hits and an RBI during Lynnfield’s eight-run 2nd inning against Wakefield. (Dan Pawlowski Photo)

After Wakefield took an early 1-0 lead in the 1st inning, Lynnfield went to work in the 2nd for what would end up being their most productive inning of the season. 

Garofoli started it off with a base hit, followed by a single from senior captain Matt Fiore. A sacrifice bunt from senior captain Jaret Simpson put runners at second and third with one out.

Sophomore Luke Martinho hit an RBI single and with runners at the corners, the Pioneers had perfectly executed hit-and-run with senior Brian Cardarelli poking one through the second base hole just vacated to cover the base and making it 2-1. Senior captain Jonathan Luders was hit by a pitch to load the bases. 

Junior John Singer and senior captain Fernando Gonzalez both walked to make it 4-1. That brought up Garofoli again who sent a deep fly to center that was misplayed. The result was a bases clearing triple and a 7-1 lead. 

Fiore put the final touches on the inning with an RBI knock for a commanding 8-1 lead that Wakefield wouldn’t be able to crawl out of thanks to the work of Garofoli on the mound with an assist to some strong defense. 

Simpson caught two runners leaning to end innings in this one. First, he picked off a runner at third to end the 1st, then he threw a laser down to second behind the runner that Luders made a terrific tag on to end the 4th. 

WILL GAROFOLI threw a complete game and also collected three RBI’s at the plate for the Pioneers who beat Wakefield 8-2 on May 30. The No. 3 Pioneers will host the winner of Weston and Wayland in the Div. 3 North Tournament’s first round. Date and time was unknown at press time. (Dan Pawlowski Photo)

The Pioneers will most likely be playing their first round game at home on Thursday. 

It’s another familiar bracket this season. In the same region as the Pioneers is old foe North Reading who drew an 11 seed. The Hornets play No. 6 O’Bryant in the first round. If both teams can get past their first round opponents it will be another rivalry game in the quarterfinals, most likely pitting Pioneer ace Gonzalez against Hornet ace Joey Frammartino, both southpaws. 

Gonzalez and the Pioneers beat Frammartino and the Hornets 6-2 on opening day but the Hornets won the rematch on May 11, 7-1. 

Gonzalez pitched a gem against North Reading in the playoffs last year getting a 2-0 win in the quarterfinals. 

Also in the Div. 3 North again is another old rival: Austin Prep. The Cougars finished the season at 19-1 but still got snubbed from the Super Eight and will return to the Div. 3 North Tournament as the top seed. Austin Prep has defeated Lynnfield in the D3N final in each of the last two seasons. 

If the two teams were to meet again this postseason, it would again be in the final as they are on opposite sides of the bracket. The No. 2 seed, and on Lynnfield’s side of the bracket, is a strong Gloucester team who finished 16-4 this year.