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Tourney's a go for Swampscott after Kinchley no-no

Peter Kinchley picked the perfect time to toss his first no-hitter.

Needing a win to clinch a postseason berth, the Swampscott baseball team turned to Kinchley for yesterday's game with Marblehead. The crafty right-hander responded with an absolute gem in the Big Blue's 2-0 victory.

Kinchley needed only 84 pitches and roughly an hour and 20 minutes to dispatch the Magicians. He struck out eight, walked one and faced just 23 batters.

"He had multiple pitches working all day long," Swampscott coach T.J. Baril said. "To clinch the postseason berth in that fashion is quite impressive."

Kinchley also produced what proved to be the game-winning run when he walked in the second inning. He moved to third on two ground balls and scored on a wild pitch for a 1-0 lead. Swampscott added a second run in the fourth inning when Steve Moran singled, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Hunter Gordon sacrifice fly.

Justin Mitchell had two hits for the Big Blue (10-9) and Dean Dennis also hit safely. Baril lauded the play of Dan Nellhaus behind the plate and praised his players for remaining focused after a 1-6 start.

"We've really adopted the mind frame that it's one game at a time. These guys did take it one at a time and performed very well each game," Baril said. "We didn't have to rely on one kid and to keep this going would be a good thing."