Milford Post 23 baseball scores late to get past Rochester Post 7

NASHUA – The seventh inning was going to be key for Ian Towle.

The Milford Post 23 baseball team scored three times in the top of the inning Saturday night to give its starting pitcher the lead, but the top of the Rochester Post 7 lineup put two runners on with one out.

As he did for most of the night, Towle battled back and found a way out of the jam, getting a groundout and a flyout to end the inning.

Milford tacked on an insurance run in the ninth and Towle pitched a complete game as Post 23 won 6-2 in the American Legion senior baseball state tournament at Holman Stadium. The start of the game was delayed an hour and a half as thunderstorms passed through the area.

The win sends Milford (16-2) into a matchup with Exeter Post 32 (14-2) at 7 p.m. on Sunday. The winner will be the last unbeaten team in the tournament and will advance to Tuesday’s championship game.

“It’s big for this program,” Towle said. “The last few years have been a struggle, but this year is a follow up to last year. We’re really hitting our stride.

“I kind of knew I could make it once we got that three spot (in the seventh). I was feeling good, I got through the seventh, through the top of the lineup, and I’d done pretty well against the bottom. That’s when I felt like I could finish it out.”

Towle struck out 10 over nine innings and allowed two runs on eight hits. While he didn’t walk anyone, Towle hit five Rochester batters, including Ben Gravel twice.

“It was an up-and-down day, but for the most part it was up,” Milford coach Ryan Britton said. “He pitched probably one of the best performances I’ve seen in Legion ball. I liked the way he approached and he kept mixing up his speeds.”

Milford got most of its offense from the bottom of the lineup, as CJ Bilodeau was 2 for 3 and scored two runs, while Alec Burns had an RBI triple and scored a run in the seventh and Mason Gaudette tripled and scored in the ninth. Thomas Bennett and Jake McMaster each drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.

Mark Levesque suffered the loss for Rochester (11-5), going 6 1/3 innings and allowing five runs – one earned – on four hits and four walks with seven strikeouts. Two wild pitches helped Milford score twice in the second inning, and an error in the seventh kept the door open for Post 23 to score two more.

Anthony DiPrizio was 4 for 5 with a double and a run scored while Rick Creteau was 2 for 4 and scored a run, but the rest of the Rochester lineup was a combined 2 for 24.

Post 7 had opportunities, leaving 10 runners on base, and three times had men in scoring position against Towle, but couldn’t get the key hit.

“I had a rough game at Sweeney (on July 12), I kind of lost it a little bit,” Towle said. “I pitched well, but I let things get to me. Ever since, I’ve tried to be like ‘if they get a hit, oh well, get the next guy.’ I let a few guys on, but then I got the next guy.”

In the first, with DiPrizio on second after a one-out double, Towle struck out the next two to get of the inning. Rochester put two on with one out in the fourth, but Milford escaped thanks to a nice catch at short by Bennett, and with Creteau at the plate, Bilodeau caught Mac Struthers leading too far off second base.

“We knew it was going to be a tight game,” Britton said. “This was our biggest game of the year, and (Sunday) is going to be our biggest game of the year.”