Milton Legion Post 114 Wins Whirlwind Game

Milton Legion Post 114 knew it would be in a battle to try and eliminate Norwood Post 70, but it probably didn't expect to take part in the baseball version of the Hundred Years' War.

In one of the longest (4:07 game), wildest (Milton pitchers hit a batter twice to force in the tying run), and zaniest (Milton's manager and starting catcher ejected) games, the boys from Milton were able to survive and take out Norwood, 12-9, in 10 innings at Peter Wall Field early Friday morning.

"I've been a part of big games like that," said Milton manager Pat Bryan. "We knew coming in here that Norwood was going to battle us right to the end, but I've never seen anything like that."

Milton staged a four-run 10th to finally knock out Norwood after the clock struck midnight. With the bases loaded, Matt O'Neil hit a two-RBI single and Coleman Durgin followed that up with a hard-hit liner to left-center to drive in two more.

Those runs iced the game, but it don't tell the whole story.

Milton jumped out to a 6-0 lead and starter Willie Archibald seemed to be in command early on. He didn't surrender a run until he allowed the first three men to reach in the bottom of the fifth inning. Archibald's night was over and James Eckel surrendered a walk to the first batter he faced.

Eckel struck out the next two batters, but Nico Rodriguez delivered with a 2-run single to pull the game to 6-3.

Kevin Lamere got Milton a 7-3 lead in the top of the sixth when an errant throw by the catcher allowed him to trot home easily after attempting to steal third.

But Norwood wasn't done, and this is where the wackiness starts to kick in.

Eckel took a screaming line drive off of his foot in the bottom of the sixth, ending his night. O'Neil came in to relieve and allowed two runs to score on RBI singles from P.J. King and Sean O'Neil.

Norwood's starter Tim Duggan got through the top of the seventh unscathed and the really strange stuff started to happen. Norwood put runners on base and King delivered again with a RBI single off of Cody Clark, 7-6.

Lead off man Sean Keady was up next and seemed to hit a ball to third that was very close to being fair, but the umpire signaled a foul ball. Instead of getting out of the inning and ending the game, Keady came through with a single to load the bases.

Duggan came up next and he was hit by an inside pitch to tie the game at 7. The ball was well inside but Bryan, his team and the rest of the Milton fan base didn't think that the call should have been made.

"A big atmosphere like this in a big game, I felt like the guy should have control," said Bryan, who was rung up after arguing the call. "He didn't."

Clark got out of the jam, but Milton got right back into one in the bottom of the eighth.

Rob O'Neil was in to pitch and on the first batter he and catcher Josh Ellis were crossed up on signals. The ball drilled the umpire in the chest and the ump tossed Ellis for what he thought wasn't an accident.

After deliberation with his colleague, the umpire decided to allow Ellis back in the game, but this is against the rules. Ellis had to sit and Durgin had to enter the game.

"The kids were having trouble seeing the signs from the catcher all game," Bryan explained. "You don't throw a kid out for that and then you don't (try) and put him back into the game."

O'Neil worked around a leadoff triple by Rodriguez by inducing two unassisted plays to the first baseman. The first was a high chopper that could have scored the winning run if Rodriguez was off with the crack of the bat.

Milton finally grabbed another lead in the top of the ninth when Jack Davis legged out an infield single allowing Mike Muse to score.

But again, Norwood showed its toughness by loading the bases for the fourth time in five innings, and Matt McDougall plunked Rodriguez to force in the game-tying run.

The big offensive explosion in the top of the 10th proved to be enough for Milton, as John Arens coughed up a run but finally ended this strange game. 

So what does this mean?

Milton now moves on and grabs a No. 1 seed in the next phase of tournament play. The schedule has has yet to be determined.

With all the variables and all the things that could have gone wrong in this game, Bryan was glad to see his guys stick together and tough out an interesting ball game.

"It's huge," said Bryan. "That shows a lot of heart. That's what I've been looking for all year."