LINCOLN – So much for drama and excitement. They left the building after one pitch.
With its district title hopes hinging on Wednesday’s performance, the Lincoln Little League All-Stars jumped on East Woonsocket early in a 14-3 victory in pool play of the Rhode Island District IV tournament at Sam Moore Field and moved to within one more win of a trip to the semifinals.
Jon McCourt’s leadoff home run on Adonis Febus’ first pitch of the game triggered an offensive explosion as Lincoln scored three runs in the first and four more in the second to break the game open. After East Woonsocket cut its deficit to 12-3, McCourt drove in Steve McManus with an RBI triple in the top of the fourth to invoke the 10-run mercy rule. Lincoln (2-1) needs to beat Glocester at home on Friday night to advance to the semifinals, which begin next Tuesday.
“My kids knew it was a very important game for them because they were 1-1 and East Woonsocket was 2-0,” Lincoln manager Charlie Hien said. “They played their hearts out tonight.”
Coming off a 2-1 loss to Cumberland American, Lincoln got the upper hand early on Wednesday courtesy of McCourt’s leadoff homer and a two-run blast by Jarrod Peloquin just three batters later. Febus left the game after 20 pitches to maintain eligibility for East Woonsocket’s game on Friday, but the game spun out of control in the top of the second when Lincoln starter Jeff Sheehan belted a three-run home run off reliever William Andino to make it 6-0. The carnage continued when pinch-hitter Rob Lake stole home on catcher Ryan Blais’ relay to the pitcher’s mound.

“We felt we could beat them,’” East Woonsocket manger Luis Santiago said. “We went and scouted this team. Of course, they had fire tonight. They needed this.
“Where we failed was we let the kids know, ‘Go up there, swing, and be aggressive and swing at that first pitch because it’s going to be a strike.’ They like to throw you a fastball and then throw you a curve, curve, curve off-speed. We failed to do that. We’ll come back next time around and see what we can do.”
Lincoln extended its lead to 12-0 in the top of the third on RBI singles by Sheehan and Doug Harrison and a fielder’s choice by Peloquin. East Woonsocket responded in the bottom of the inning, scoring three times on Lake’s fielding error in center and a monstrous two-run home run by Andino.
“There has to be some fight,” Santiago said. “If you just roll through a game, that does nothing for your character.”
A scoreless fourth would’ve extended the game at least one more inning, but McManus singled with two outs off reliever Joel Lanoe and scored when right-fielder Kevin Lapierre misplayed McCourt’s sinking line drive into a triple. Sheehan followed with an RBI single to make it 14-3. Sheehan finished 3-for-3 with five RBIs and also struck out five batters in 3 2/3 innings.
“Their emotional level was great after that very emotional loss to Cumberland,” Hien said. “They picked it right back up. I’ve got to give the kids all the credit in the world. If you heard them in the dugout tonight, they were all over each other and cheering for each other. They really have great chemistry, and these kids enjoy playing baseball together. I’m very proud of them.”
Since falling behind by two runs after just two batters in Monday’s loss to Cumberland American, Lincoln has allowed only four runs in its last 9 2/3 innings and scored 15 times – a positive sign for Hien heading into Friday’s game against Glocester.
“When kids are 11, 12, and 13 years old, momentum is everything,” Hien said. “With kids, emotions play a huge part in the success of the team. From the moment Cumberland took a 2-0 lead on us, we’ve pretty much been playing perfect baseball. This team has been so focused, and I’m very proud of the way they’ve performed.”
Sheehan bounced back from a rough third inning and struck out Lanoe and Angel Rodriguez to lead off the fourth before walking David Rodriguez on four pitches. Corey Dipaola entered the game and got Febus to ground out back to the pitcher’s mound to finish off East Woonsocket.
McCourt reached base four times on two walks and two hits and also scored four runs while Peloquin finished 1-for-4 with three RBIs. East Woonsocket fell to 2-1 in pool play and can advance to the semifinals with a win over undefeated Cumberland American on Friday or via a run-differential tiebreaker.
“We still have a chance with the plus and minus because we’ve put up 33 runs so far, so even if we lose, we still have a chance on the tiebreaker to make it,”  Santiago said. “We told the kids, ‘Leave this game here. Shake it off, take a shower, have a cold drink and let’s think about (Thursday’s) practice from 3 to 6, as we usually do, then come back for Cumberland.”