Last week, the ‘Jackets had three games against Division I foes. On Tuesday, they took on the Spaulding Crimson Tide, who came in with an impressive 7-1 record. Sophomore Dylan Leggett took the hill for Milton, but it was a short day for him, as he exited after on 1 and a 1/3 innings with pain in his shoulder. Kyle McRae was next on the mound. Although Kyle threw well (4 IP, 4 hits, 5 runs, 1 earned run, 5 strikeouts, and no walks) poor defense left the ‘Jackets with an 8-1 deficit was Kyle exited with 1 out in the 5th inning.
Sophomore Nick Ferguson went the final 1 and 2/3 innings for Milton giving up 1 run (unearned) on no hits. The big inning on the day for Spaulding came in the 3rd inning when they scored 4 runs on 2 Milton errors.
While the Milton offense was quiet on the day, Corey Hurley led the attack with 2 singles and Jeremy Peet had the lone RBI with a bases loaded walk.
After rain pushed a Thursday game to Friday, the ‘Jackets found themselves taking on another team off to an impressive start in the St. Albans Bobwhites. Hurley was on the mound and had a very solid outing. He held St. Albans scoreless until the 5th inning, allowing Milton to get out to an early 1-0 lead when Alex Learned had an RBI groundout in the 3rd inning to score Ferguson from third base. St. Albans pushed across 3 runs in the 5th and 6th, but Milton responded with 4 in the 5th and 2 in the 6th to hold a 7-6 lead. Then things got interesting.
With 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th inning, Milton allowed a run to tie the score at 7. St. Albans followed with another run in the 8th, when Alex Duchesneau entered to pitch with one out (.2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 1 K), to extend their lead to 8-7. Ferguson then led off the bottom of the inning with a walk and Colton Carpenter executed a perfect sacrifice bunt to push him to second base. Ferguson then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Learned had a gutty at-bat, and eventually fought off a 2-strike pitch with a roller down the third base line. St. Albans pitcher threw the ball away allowing Ferguson to score the tying run.
The game then went to the 9th tied 8-8. Ferguson entered the game to pitch and allowed nothing, getting a 1-2-3 inning. In the bottom of the inning, McRae had a 1 out walk to get things going. He advanced to second on a passed ball and third on a wild pitch. Mike Mullins was at the plate with a chance to win the game. With a full count, Mullins smashed a ball past the second basemen who was playing in on the grass and into right field to give Milton a walk-off win.
Hurley had a good day on the mound, going 7 and 1/3 innings, allowing 8 runs (6 earned) on 11 hits, 2 walks and 5 strikeouts. However, Ferguson picked up the win after his scoreless 9th inning. Kyle McRae led the Milton offense on the day, going 2 for 4 with 2 RBI. Peet also went 2 for 4 and Matt Goulet had a double.
On Saturday morning, the ‘Jackets traveled to CVU to take on the Redhawks. Duchesneau had the ball for the ‘Jackets, who jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the 2nd inning after an error by the catcher on a ball hit by Learned led to 3 unearned runs for Milton. CVU had an answer though, scoring 4 runs in the 2nd and 3 runs in the 3rd to gain a 7-3 lead. Duchesneau gave way to Ferguson with 1 out in the 3rd inning. Ferguson then went the rest of the way for Milton, holding the Redhawks scoreless until the 6th inning.
The score stayed at 7-3 until the 5th inning, when Milton began to claw its way back into the game. The ‘Jackets scored 2 runs in the frame on a Hurley single and stolen base, a CVU error, and a perfect squeeze bunt by Anthony Campbell. This brought the score to 7-5 after 5 innings.
CVU tacked on another run in 6th inning on an error and two sacrifice flies. So Milton went into the 7th inning down 8-5. Mullins came up big again, leading off the inning with shot into the right-center field gap for a double. After a walk to Campbell and 2 wild pitches, pinch hitter Pat Gilbert came to the plate with runners on second and third with no one out and hit a single into right field scoring two runs. From there, the flood gates opened for Milton (figuratively and literally; it was absolutely pouring). After a perfect bunt from Carpenter that turned into a single, Peet hit another 2 run single to extend the Milton lead to 10-8 and Hurley followed with another RBI single to bring the lead to 11-8.
In the sloppy weather, things got interesting for Milton, as CVU pushed across 2 runs on 4 consecutive singles. With one out, Campbell made the play of the game. With runners on first and third, the runner at first took off for second base. Catcher Jeremy Peet fired the ball towards second base, but after seeing the runner on third take off for home, Campbell cut the throw off in front of second base and made a perfect throw home to nail the runner for out number two. Ferguson then got a groundball to Carpenter at third base to end the game as the ‘Jackets won 11-10.
Ferguson picked up his second consecutive win on the mound going 4 and 2/3 innings and giving up 3 runs (2 earned) on 5 hits and 3 strikeouts. At the plate, Peet led the way for Milton, going 3 for 4 with 2 RBI. Hurley also had a multi-hit day, going 2 for 4 with an RBI. Milton’s speed was also huge on the day, as they racked up 7 stolen bases (4 by Hurley) with 4 of those steals coming in the pivotal 7th inning.
With their record at 7-4, Milton travels to North Country on Tuesday, then hosts Missisquoi at 4:30 on Thursday and Middlebury at 11 AM on Saturday.
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