Goffstown Post 16 scores four in the ninth to beat Milford Post 23

MILFORD – Going into the top of the ninth inning of a 1-1 ballgame, Lenny Pappas just wanted to see his guys be aggressive.

Goffstown Post 16 had the bottom of its lineup coming to bat against Milford Post 23 bullpen, and Pappas told his players not to hesitate.

They didn’t, as Goffstown sent 10 batters to the plate and scored four times to pull out a 5-1 win over Milford in American Legion Senior District A action at Keyes Field.

Tyler Perron had a two-run single in the inning and pitched a perfect ninth to finish off the complete-game win for Post 16 (8-8), which kept alive its hopes at a tournament berth while knocking Milford (9-7) back in the standings. The two teams will meet against Saturday at 4 p.m. at Saint Anselm College to finish the regular season.

“If we win out, we’ve got a good chance of getting in,” Pappas said. “I told them be aggressive (going into the ninth). We’ve got to start swinging at the early pitches and not let them get to their breaking stuff. They were able to do that.”

But Post 16 wouldn’t have been in that position without Perron, who struggled in the first few innings, but got help from his defense, specifically catcher David Nelson. Milford had runners on in each of the first five innings, but stranded eight on base while Nelson threw out three others.

“David Nelson did a great job behind the plate, he threw a couple of kids out, which I thought was huge,” Pappas said. “Both were big plays where it changed momentum.”

Nelson’s arm behind the plate changed the way Post 23 played once it had runners on, coach Frank Douglas said.

“They have a good catcher,” he said. “He threw a kid out at third, he threw a kid out at second. Their pitcher threw strikes and kept us off balance, but had opportunities to move runners up and we didn’t do it.”

In the bottom of the first, Tommy Bennett (two hits) singled with one out, but was thrown out by Nelson trying to steal second. Ryan Britton and Patrick Martin followed with walks, but Perron got Cam Douglas to fly out to right to end the inning.

Post 23 left two on in the second, and in the third, Bennett, Britton and Martin opened the inning with back-to-back-to-back singles to load the bases with no one out. Cam Douglas followed with a ground ball to shortstop Dylan Skinner, who threw home to Nelson to force out Bennett. When Britton came too far around third, Nelson fired down the line to complete a double play and Perron struck out Chandler MacKenzie to end the inning.

Goffstown took a 1-0 lead in the second, when Britton walked Skinner with the bases loaded, scoring Nelson. Aside from that inning, the Milford starter was in command, as he went six innings, giving up three hits and three walks while striking out nine. Of the first 21 batters Britton faced, only eight put the ball in play.

“We’ve had a hard time giving the kind of support he needs,” Frank Douglas said. “He’s pitched in a lot of tough games. I don’t blame it on Ryan, it’s just one of those days.”

Milford tied the game with two out in the fourth and runners on first and third. Jake McMaster stole second, sliding around the tag, and Steve Upton came in from third without a throw to make it a 1-1 game. Post 23 looked like it might get more, but Skinner made a great leaping catch to snag a liner by Bennett that was headed for left center.

The pitchers took over from there. After Martin hit a one-out double in the fifth, Perron allowed one base runner the rest of the way, while Britton retired eight of the final nine batters he faced.

“It was a pitcher’s duel and we were able to get (Britton) out of the game, which was huge, and once we were able to get into their bullpen, we took care of business,” Pappas said. “Tyler pitched a great game. It looked like he just got into his rhythm. It looked like he struggled with the mound and just getting comfortable.”

Eddie Clark came on in relief of Britton in the seventh and loaded the bases with two outs, but got Kyle Perron to ground out to end the inning.

In the eighth, Nelson led off with a single, went to second on a sacrifice and advanced to third on a groundout by Kyle Chisolm. Milford tried to get Nelson advancing to third on the play, but the ball got away from Martin at third base, but Bennett was backing up the play and nailed Nelson at home for the final out.

Both teams are in action Friday, as Milford hosts Keene and Goffstown heads to Lebanon. The two teams then play each other again on Saturday.