Milton Legion Post 114 Hangs on to Advance After a Long Day

In a perfect world, the boys from Milton Legion Post 114 would have gone one and done in Tuesday's action. Instead, Post 114 played 21 innings in just under seven hours during a double-header and we were there to see it all. Here is a recap of Tuesday's action.

 GAME 1

Mike Bortolotti's clutch ninth-inning blast gave Milton Post 114 a shot at an early afternoon, but Milton succumbed to Brockton Post 34, 5-4, in 12 innings on Tuesday afternoon at Braintree High School.

Brockton left Joe Woodbridge in for the ninth to try to finish what he started, but Bortolotti ended those hopes with a shot to left-center that cleared the wall and sent the game into extra innings.

Kerrigan Griffiths settled in nicely in extra innings on the mound, but a crucial balk  in the top of the 12th moved a runner to third with nobody out.

Zach Apotheker (2-for-5, single, double, HBP) roped a double to begin the top of the frame. Apotheker was pinch-run for by Mike Paul and Paul would move to third on the balk.

Griffiths was trying to spin and check the runner on second, but he caught just enough of his spike on the rubber and double clutched for the slightest moment.

"It's a spin move," said Milton manager Pat Bryan. "You just pick up your leg, you can do whatever you want with your leg. It's a huge call to make in. Nobody wants to make that call."

Shane Varnadore hit a sac-fly to left to plate Paul and give Brockton the game-winning run.

Jack Colton got on base in the bottom of the 12th, but he got tagged out at second after he over ran the bag to end the game and end the hopes of an early day for Milton.

A few mental errors and a big play at third base in the bottom of the eighth proved to be fateful mistakes for Milton. Josh Ellis fanned on a bunt and catcher Trevor Packard gunned down Nate Ellis at third base with nobody out on a steal attempt.

"He made a great throw," Bryan said of the play.

Mike McDougall was strong for Milton in the early going as he was didn't surrender a hit until the fifth inning. He surrendered a run on one hit in 4.2 innings while striking out two.

GAME 2

Milton had to run through five pitchers in its opening act, but two would be just fine in this one.

The box score won't say that Willie Archibald was spectacular, but he did enough over eight innings of work to keep Milton in the game and help the team earn a 9-8 victory over Sandwich Post 188 in the nightcap on Tuesday.

Sandwich touched up Archibald for six runs in the top of the fourth inning. Archibald struck out Tyler Shute to begin the inning, but just like in the second, Shute reached on a passed ball.

Sandwich would then rattle off four straight singles and when it was all said and done Sandwich built an 8-4 lead.

There was some thought of taking Archibald out, but Bryan decided to stick with his pitcher who has been up at the top of the rotation for most of the season.

"Once he got through it I think he just settled down a little bit," said Bryan.

Archibald didn't allow a run over the next four innings and only allowed two men to reach second base over that span.

"I got a little nervous out there considering they had a big inning," said Archibald, who struck out eight batters. "I just had to focus and bear down a little bit and rely on my defense to make some plays behind me."

Cody Clark opened the ninth with a strikeout and shut the door with a strikeout of Griff Guerin to punctuate the win and keep Milton alive in the postseason.

Jack Colton scored on an error by the second baseman — the fifth of the night by Sandwich — to plate the game-winner in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Milton did fall behind 8-4 after that disastrous top of the fourth, but they were able to do a lot of damage in the bottom of the frame without taking the bat off of their shoulders. Sandwich pitchers walked the first four batters of the inning and Jack Davis was plunked to plate the inning's first run. 

Milton would score two more times on back-to-back wild pitches, and after an inning that no baseball fundamentalist will ever talk about, Milton was back in it, 8-7.

Milton and Brockton will meet Wednesday at 4 p.m. Milton will need to knock off Brockton twice to take bragging rights, but both teams will be advancing to play this weekend.