Milton Post 114 Falls in Championship Doubleheader

Milton Legion Post 114 tore into the Legion State Tournament, coming into Wednesday's championship game as the only remaining undefeated squad. Their opponents from East Longmeadow would need everything to fall into place to hoist the trophy.

After nearly seven hours and 18 innings of baseball, the near-lock for the regional tournament was dethroned as Milton lost 12-9 and 11-3 in back-to-back games at Campanelli Stadium in Brockton.

"If you look at it, a doubleheader, if you take a split, you win a state title," Milton coach Pat Bryan said. "They would have to win two to beat us."

Unfortunately, for Bryan and his accomplished squad, that's exactly what happened. Adding insult to injury, Milton steamrolled Post 293 just two days earlier on the same field to the tune of 16-4. But on Wednesday, East Longmeadow got two complete games from their pitchers and came in with a top-to-bottom lineup of hitters.

"It's tough," Bryan said. "It's tough on the kids."

Game One

In the first game of the night, Milton found themselves playing catch-up right out of the gate. After sitting down the first two batters from East Longmeadow, Milton pitcher John Arens was overcome by the opponent's bats, giving up four hits and a walk for three runs.

In the bottom of the frame, Milton answered with two runs of their own.

By the end of the sixth inning, East Longmeadow was clutching on to a 6-5 lead. Milton committed a couple of errors in the seventh and the lead grew again. Down 9-5 in the bottom of the seventh, Milton needed hot bats to recover. Instead, East Longmeadow pitcher Matt O'Neil struck out the first two batters of the inning.

In the ninth, James Christensen took Matt McDougall, who came in for Arens in the second, deep for a  three run homerun.

"The three runner homer ended up being the difference maker there," Bryan said.

Down by seven runs, Milton mounted a rally in the bottom of the ninth. With the bases loaded and two outs, Josh Ellis slammed a two RBI double. James Eckel, followed Ellis and batted in the remaining two runners. Though, they significantly closed the gap, Milton wasn't able to catch East Longmeadow, prompting a do-or-die game two.

Game Two

Since the playoffs began, Bryan has said pitching would carry his team. He couldn't have asked for a better situation in the final game of the tournament than to have his ace, Mike Bortolotti taking the mound.

Borotolotti started out strong, forcing the first two batters to ground out. A lucky bounce sent Kyle DiFranco's hit off of shortstop Jack Colton's glove, keeping the inning alive. A mini-rally for East Longmeadow ended with a 2-0 lead.

In the second, Milton gained momentum. Bortolotti struck out two and left a pair of runners stranded. On offense, Milton centerfielder Matt O'Neill reached first on an error and stole his way to third. A sac fly scored O'Neill, and put Post 114 within a run.

In the third, James Eckel tied up the game when he batted in Jack Davis.

In the sixth inning, Milton crumbled under immense pressure from the East Longmeadow bats. The eight-hit onslaught ended with six runs.

Two innings later, East Longmeadow's Matt O'Neil went deep off Cody Clark for two more runs. Post 293 would score their last run two batters later when Robert Mack plated James Christensen.

Willie Archibald would score on a passed ball in the eighth to give Milton their third and final run of the game.

Though the losses were tough, Bryan said he was happy with the season.

"I think they overachieved a little bit," Bryan said. "We didn't expect to be 4-0 playing for the state title."