By STEVE MAZZONE

Sports writer

CRANSTON – Since the Major Division All-Star Tournament began a few weeks ago, Johnston National manager Doug Jeffrey has never lost a coin flip.
There’s also another thing that Jeffrey and his squad have yet to lose this summer – a game.
In a battle of unbeatens on Sunday afternoon, the District I titlist handed Lincoln its first defeat with a 7-5 come-from-behind win in the winners’ bracket of the state tournament at the John Chafee Sports Complex.
Trailing by a score of 5-4, Johnston (8-0) scored three times in the bottom of the fifth to earn a date in Wednesday’s championship round. The setback sends Lincoln to the losers’ bracket finals on Tuesday (5:30 p.m.) where it will face familiar foe Portsmouth.
“We knew it was going to be a really tough game,” said Lincoln manager Dale O’Dell, whose squad beat Portsmouth, 5-3, in its opener on Saturday. “We knew it was going to be a tough game. They had their No. 1 pitcher (Gian Martelli) throwing…Let them enjoy it. They outplayed us. We didn’t make the plays defensively. The bottom line is we didn’t make Lincoln-type plays.”
Lincoln, normally a solid defensive club, committed two errors in the game in addition to its share of misplayed balls. A few of those gaffes came in the crucial fifth when Johnston was able to overcome its one-run deficit with three runs. 
With the bases-loaded and relief pitcher Ryan Fournier on the mound for Lincoln  starter Sam Brito, Armani Henderson hit a hard infield grounder to Jeff Sheehan that the shortstop rifled home for the force out. Jake Coro followed with a fly ball to left center that turned into an RBI single to tie the game at 5 when the ball dropped between centerfielder Alec Cronan and leftfielder Brandon Yee, who both appeared to have some miscommunication on the play. After Fournier hit Christian Aybar with a pitch to bring in another run, Johnston was able to score its insurance run with two outs on an infield error at third on a line drive by Chris Vizzacco.
“These kids are the toughest 12 kids I have ever coached,” Jeffrey said. “They are never down. They are never out of the game.”
“Ryan Fournier didn’t do a bad job,” O’Dell added. “We just didn’t make the plays behind him. A ground ball to third and we missed a play in left. You couldn’t ask for anything more.”
Facing the strong arm of Martelli, one of the top hurlers in the tournament, Lincoln proved from the beginning that it was not intimidated by the talent right-hander. Lincoln was able to take a 4-0 lead by the top of the third inning with seven of its 11 players getting at least a hit at that point.
Lincoln scored twice in the first inning. Sheehan led off the frame with a single and then advanced to second on a passed ball. Brito was then able to reach base when he hit a ball to Martelli, whose good toss to first base was dropped by teammate Aaron Perfetto. Tyler Duquette was able to bring Sheehan home with the first run when he nearly hit into a double play. He bashed a grounder that second baseman Jake Coro missed the tag on Brito, but rifled the ball to first to get Duquette out and allowing Sheehan to be plated. After Alec Cronan was called out trying to stretch a single to a double, Jake Petrin (3-for-3, three RBI) made it 2-0 with a run-scoring double.
Lincoln scored two more times in the third to make it 4-0. Brito, who led off the frame with a single, eventually scored on a throwing error to home when Duquette followed with a single to centerfield. With one out, Petrin drove in the last run of the inning with a base hit.
With Lincoln’s top two pitchers – Duquette and Sheehan – unable to pitch after they were both utilized in the Portsmouth game, O’Dell gave the ball to Brito against Johnston. The young righty struck out three in the first inning and had a 1-2-3 second. In the third, though, he ran into some trouble and the Johnston bats took advantage.
With two outs and a runner on first, Brito gave up back-to-back doubles to Martelli and James Picchi with PIcchi’s shot driving in two runs to cut the deficit in half.  After a single by Armani Henderson, Jake Coro tied the game at 4 with another two-run double.
In the frame, Brito threw 25 pitches and went through seven batters.
“They got a couple of players that can hit the ball,” O’Dell said. “He left the ball up a few times. I think he was tired.”
“It’s very tough to get through our order two times,” Jeffrey said. “They are tough kids. They get the bat on the ball. Even when we make outs, we have good at-bats. These kids know how to work counts. I think we used that to our advantage today.”
Petrin, who was just put into the lineup for the state tournament, missing Lincoln’s run through the District IV Tournament while nursing a broken wrist, gave his teammates the lead back in the fifth inning with an RBI double, his third hit of the contest.
Johnston made sure that lead would be short-lived with its three runs in the bottom half of the frame.
Lincoln will now prepare for its battle with Portsmouth on Tuesday, back at the Chafee Complex. If the All-Stars top the District II champions again, it will have to beat Johnston twice to earn the state crown in the double-elimination championship.
Duquette, who pitched a few innings of relief in the first Portsmouth contest, will get the nod in the losers’ bracket finals.
“It’s going to be a tough road,” O’Dell said. “I’m going with Duquette. Sheehan can’t pitch until Wednesday because he needs three days rest. It’s going to be Duquette. If we play our game, we should be back (in the championship) and hopefully we can beat Johnston twice in the finals.”
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Lincoln 202 010 – 5 11 2
Johnston National 004 03x – 7 8 2
Sam Brito, Ryan Fournier (5) and Jake Petrin. Gian Martelli, Korey Fijal (6) and Armani Henderson. 2B – L, Petrin 2, Fournier. JN,  James Picchi, Martelli, Jake Coro.