With two players committed to Division 1 baseball programs – one of them last year’s Cape Ann League Player of the Year – the future looks pretty bright for the Lynnfield baseball team.
The Pioneers lost seven seniors to graduation, including two-year captain Dave Tracy, as well as Owen Mullin and Anthony Grabau, who is now playing at Fordham University. All three were Cape Ann League All-Stars in 2024 with Tracy earning first-team honors and Grabau and Mullin earning second-team honors.
“Those are big shoes to fill both as players and leaders,” said Coach John O’Brien. “Anthony was terrific at third and hit the ball and was all-league for two years. Mullin played fabulous in left field and hit the ball very well, and Dave did a great job for us pitching and at first. We’re missing some guys, so these seniors need to step up. I am hoping they will.”
The good news for the Pioneers is they are returning three Cape Ann League All-Stars, all seniors. Leading the way is Columbia University-commit and shortstop Tyler Adamo, the 2024 CAL Player of the Year and Daily Item All-Star. High Point University-commit and CAL first-team All-Star Madux Iovinelli, a pitcher/outfielder/first-baseman, and CAL second-team All-Star Nick Groussis, a versatile outfielder/infielder, also return.
Senior speedster Charlie Morgan, an outfielder, and senior pitcher/first-baseman Walter Radulski are also back. Returning juniors include pitcher/infielder Luke DiSilvio and catcher Drew George. DiSilvio and George join Adamo, Iovinelli, and Groussis as captains.
O’Brien said it’s the largest group of captains he’s ever had.
“They’re good leaders and players, and they all deserve to be captains,” O’Brien said. “The kids vote and the coaches vote. Everybody gets one vote, so I guess you could say it’s pretty democratic.”
O’Brien said he has a nice group of juniors he hopes will step up.
“I think there are seven of them and they will be challenging for spots,” he said. “At this point, I obviously don’t know who else will be making the team. I can see already that some of the kids are putting in more work than others, so nobody should be surprised.”
The Pioneers finished 20-3 last year. At times, however, the team struggled to deliver timely hits. The final game of the season said it all. The top-seed in the Division 4 tournament, Lynnfield stranded 11 runners in a 7-5 loss to No. 24 Salem. The Pioneers came into that game riding a 16-game winning streak in large part relying on pitching and defense. In 22 games going into the tournament, the Pioneers allowed an average of just 2.4 runs per game and held opponents to three or fewer runs in 17 games.
“We were pretty well-rounded last year,” O’Brien said. “We only lost two regular season games and we shouldn’t have lost either one, to be honest. Against Salem, all we had to do was put the bat on the ball and we would have won that one. It was that simple.”
The Pioneers open the season at home with non-league tilts against Lynn Classical on April 3 (4 p.m.) and Swampscott on April 5 (noon). Their first CAL contest is against Triton at home on May 1 (4 p.m.)
As always, the Pioneers will close the regular season in the annual Brendan Grant Tournament at Belmont High School. The first round will be played on Friday, May 23 (TBD) with the championship and consolation games taking place on Saturday.
The Pioneers have eight scheduled scrimmages this year, which O’Brien said is par for the course.
“We always have a lot because if the weather is bad and we’re supposed to play a team Tuesday, that team may already have something the next day,” O’Brien said. “Also, I am a firm believer that the more live at-bats you get, the better it is. Every kid will get into four scrimmages to give them a chance to make the team. After that, the team will be picked. Some schools already have their teams picked, but we like to see live at-bats before the team is picked.”
