Brookline Comeback Cut Short By Fading Daylight

Milli Vanilli might blame it on the rain, but Brookline's Lou Tompkins "B" Division All-Star team might want to blame it on the dark.

Brookline fell to Westford, 11-8, in a six-inning affair due to darkness on Friday night at Warren Field. The called game came at the most inopportune time for Brookline, as the offense was just starting to come around with three runs in the bottom of the sixth.

David Krane singled to lead off the sixth inning and Noah Horning reached on an error by the third baseman. Austin Cohen came up and rocketed a triple to right-center to plate two runs. Cohen was later brought home on a mishandled grounder by the second baseman.

But that's all that Brookline would muster in the inning and because the umpires didn't want to begin another inning due to the time of night, the game was called and the comeback was stopped dead in its tracks.

"That's the first time that's happened to us," manager Michael Normant said about the failed comeback. "Every time we are down in a game, by the end of the game we've actually rallied. You could see on our bench that we thought we were going to get this win. I think if we had another inning we could have got back in it."

Brookline's starter Andrew Corcoran hit three batters in the top of the third inning and was tagged with two runs.

However, Brookline responded with four of its own in the bottom of the frame.

Westford was charged with three errors in the inning and Brookline made the team pay. Horning lined a one-out double and scored on a RBI double from Aaron Yang. Cohen plated Yang with a RBI single through the left side. Ben Doughty would score on a wild pitch to end the scoring in the inning.

But just as Brookline was able to mount those good vibes, Westford took them right back with eight runs in the next two innings. Brookline got a little sloppy in the top of the fourth as they surrendered three walks, hit a batter and committed an error. Zach Gross and Stephen O'Brien both had RBI singles and Nick Mizzoni brought one home with a sac-fly to left.

Just like the fourth, Brookline pitchers had a tough time finding the plate, handing out four walks and a hit batsmen as well as a 2-run double to Bobby Livermore.

"We take the lead and they come and put runs on us," said Normant. "It makes it hard for us to come back."

Brookline has now dropped two in a row and have a chance to right the ship on Saturday at Melrose.