The St. John’s Prep tennis team has punched its ticket to the Division 1 championship game. The No. 1 Eagles beat No. 4 Lexington 4-1 on Monday evening. The win exacted a bit of revenge for the Eagles, who were eliminated by the Minuteman 3-2 in the 2023 semifinals.
First singles John DeAngelis didn’t lose a game beating Ronak Wakhlu 6-0, 6-0. Second singles, Lynnfield’s Jack Prokopis, took care of his opponent, winning 6-2, 6-0.
Luke Free and Darius Jin battled in the first set with Free picking up a tough 7-5 first set win. Free figured out Jin in the second set and won 6-0 for the Eagles.
First doubles Luke Prokopis, also of Lynnfield, and Boris Kouzminov showed their resiliency. The duo trailed after the first set 3-6, but regrouped and won the next two sets 6-1, 6-4 for the win.
Lynnfield’s Mark McDuffee and partner Alex Melville had a tough match at second doubles falling to Arvind Rojorajian and Evan Saptari 3-6, 2-6.
The Eagles are back in the championship game and will look to be crowned champions when they face the winner of the June 11 No. 2 Concord versus No. 6 Brookline semifinal match.
BASEBALL
No. 1 Lynnfield 2
No. 17 Oxford 0
The Pioneers saved their best for last against visiting Oxford on June 5 in the Division 4 round of 16. And they did it on both sides of the field, grinding it out in the late innings, 2-0.
Going into the bottom of the sixth, Lynnfield had just one hit – a two-out single from No. 9 hitter Charlie Morgan in the third inning. With the game knotted at 0-0, it was anyone’s game.
The Pioneers had let a golden chance slip through their fingers in the fifth. They had the bases loaded with two outs on walks by Owen Mullin, Morgan and Tyler Adamo, but couldn’t get a run home.
They made good on their chances in the next inning, scoring two runs to take a 2-0 into the top of the seventh. David Tracy drew a one-out walk. Madux Iovinelli singled him to second. Both men moved up a base on a wild pitch. Mullin followed with an infield grounder. Oxford’s second baseman fielded the ball cleanly and looked Tracy back at third. In hindsight, it was too long a look as Mullin beat it out at first to load the bases for Dylan Damiani, who ripped an RBI single that brought Tracy home. An infield ground out to second by Matt Papigikas plated Iovinelli with the Pioneers’ second run.
Up 2-0, there was plenty of drama in the top of the seventh – as well as plenty of great fielding. Mullin made a diving shoestring catch for the first out. Damiani got the second out, charging a ground ball at second and making a throw on the run. Anthony Grabau wrapped up the win with a solid play on a hard grounder to third.
Iovinelli got the start and pitched an efficient game. In seven innings, he allowed just three hits with six strikeouts and just one walk.
