Published August 5, 2020

By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI

LYNNFIELD — The Lynnfield Northeast Baseball League team won its final game of the season by forfeit on Sunday as visiting Lowell did not have enough players. With that win, the Pioneers finished at 6-5-1 overall as they came in 4th place in the South division.

However, they were just three points behind second-place Billerica as they played one less game.

On Aug. 1, the Pioneers blanked guest Newton 10-0 at the middle school in a mercy-rule game that ended after Newton was shut out in the top of the 6th inning.

Hayden Bond, who missed most of the regular season with a hand injury, was the winning pitcher going five innings.

“He is a top of the line starter,” said Lynnfield manager Anthony Martinho. “It was great to have him back for the final games of the season.”

Bond, who attends Malden Catholic, gave up three hits, no walks and he fanned five batters in his five innings of work. Blake Peters, who will be a senior at Lynnfield High this fall, pitched a scoreless 6th inning to end the game.

The Pioneers scored twice in the 1st inning and once more in the 3rd. They then plated two in the 4th, four in the 5th and one in the 6th.

Overall, Lynnfield had 12 hits. Spencer Riley led the attack going 3-for-4 with two runs batted in. Luke Martinho was 2-for-3 with a walk and three runs scored. Joe Gizmunt was the other multiple hitter going 2-for-4 with two RBI’s.

Pat D’Amico set the tone with a two-run homer to right-center in the 1st. Devon Bolger added a two-run single to right field in the 4th.

The game at Wilmington on July 30 was rained out and will not be made up.

On July 28, the Pioneers were nipped by the defending league champions, Dracut 5-4. Lynnfield hosted the game at the high school but Dracut was the designated home team as they scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the 7th with two outs.

“We had two big errors in that inning,” lamented Martinho. “Tim (Pivero) pitched well .”

Pivero went 1.2 innings with the final run being unearned.

Dracut had three total unearned runs as they scored two of them in the 1st. They then plated two more in bottom of the 6th.

Lynnfield scored twice in the 4th and twice more in the top of the 7th.

In the 7th, Peters doubled and then Tyler Scoppettuolo knotted the game at four with a clutch two-run homer to left-center.

D’Amico and Gizmunt each had RBI singles in the 4th.

The Pioneers had eight hits led by D’Amico who was a perfect 3-for-3. Martinho went 2-for-3 as he was the other multiple hitter.

“It was a great game,” said coach Martinho. “It is too bad someone had to lose.”

Due to the shortened season because of the Covid-10 pandemic, there will be no playoffs.