Milton Baseball Blanks Walpole

Kerrigan Grifiths may have missed the first seven games of the regular season, but the junior hurler is turning it on when it counts.

The right-hander tossed seven innings of four-hit, shutout ball in Milton's 1-0 win over Bay State rival Walpole at Jack Eldracher Memorial Field yesterday afternoon.

"I'm just starting to get into it now," said Grifiths. "I'm back into it."

Grifiths threw 101 pitches in his outing and used his efficient split-fingered fastball— which he said he has thrown since Little League — to record 11 ground ball outs.

"When he's low that's when he's tough," said Wildcats head coach Ted Curley. "Sometimes when he throws his offspeed stuff it comes up. It gets up in the hitter's zone and he gets in trouble, but he stuck to his game plan today and he looked really, really good."

What made Grifiths even more effective was his ability to maneuver around potential big innings. In the bottom of the fourth he faced men on first and second with only one out, but he buckled down to strike out the next two batters, swinging.

In the fifth, he gave up a leadoff double to Craig Hanley and Matt Lavanchy moved him to third with only one down. But again, Grifiths got out of the dicey situation with three straight ground ball outs.

"Today he hit his spots really well," said Curley, whose team will be playing in the postseason and have shot at the Bay State crown if Natick falters down the stretch. "He never got flustered out there."

Matt O'Neil came in and closed the door on the game, as he only surrendered two hits over two innings, and got some help with a great diving catch in the bottom of the ninth by right fielder Matt Regan.

The Wildcats knocked in the lone run of the game in the top of the third on an RBI single by Mike Bortolotti, which plated Willie Archibald.

That run was the only blemish on a strong pitching performance from Walpole's Tom Ryan. The big lefty scattered seven hits and struck out four in his nine-innings of work.

"(Ryan) throws hard and he's consistently on the outside of the plate," said Curley. "He's tough."

At 12-7, the Wildcats have already clinched their spot in the playoffs and Curley said his team is peaking at the right time.

"I like our team," said Curley, whose team has won six out of their last seven games. "We are playing the best ball we have all year."