Hingham Baseball Team Pulls Out Clutch Win, Advance to State Championship

One clutch hit is all it took for the Hingham High School baseball team to move on to the Division 2 State Championship.  That hit came in the sixth inning and the Harbormen went on to defeat Masconomet 2-1 in the semi-finals.

With a runner on third base in a 1-1 game in the bottom of the sixth inning, Hingham junior John Carlson came to the plate, totally fearless. 

“Early in the game he was throwing fastballs and he threw a curve in there, and I just capitalized on it,” Carlson said. “I knew what I had to do, which was to do my job.” 

Already 2 for 2 on the night, the Hingham junior ripped the ball into the outfield and his teammate Evan Flanagan scored, taking the lead. 

“Carlson has a lot of guts,” Hingham coach Frank Niles said.  “He’s not a .350 hitter but he’s there when you need him.” 

Bill Boynton pitched a perfect seventh inning to secure the victory and with the win, Hingham moves onto the Division 2 Championship, which will be played Saturday.

Both of Hingham's runs came off of costly mistakes made by Masconomet.  In the second inning, the Masconomet catcher interfered with two consecutive Hingham batters, putting them each on base. One of those base runners went on to score after a bases loaded walk.

“I haven’t seen that all year,” coach Niles said after the game. 

The second mistake came in the sixth inning. While Flanagan was on first base, the Masconomet pitcher committed a balk, advancing the base runner to second.  Flanagan later went on to score the game winning run.

“It sort of fell upon us,” Niles said.  “We found a way to win” 

Masconomet also made major mistakes on the base pads.  In the first inning, their captain Greg Jain tried to steal home but was thrown out at the plate.  In the top of the third, a Masconomet base runner tried to take two bases after a wild pitch, but was thrown out at third and in the sixth inning, one of their base runners was caught leading off third base and he was tagged out.

Hingham was also carried by their starting pitcher.

In seven innings of work, Boynton only surrendered one home run for Hingham.

“He stayed with things and made pitches as the game went on,”  Niles said.

In the win, Hingham infielder Cody Clifford left with an ankle injury.  It is undetermined if he’ll be ready for the championship game. 

Hingham will play Auburn on Saturday.  The time and location have not been announced.