Sweeney Post 2 rallies to beat Milford Post 23 in extra innings

MILFORD – Dave Flurey had nothing extraordinary to say to Nolan Flynn when the Sweeney Post 2 coach went to the mound to talk to his pitcher during the fourth inning of Monday’s game.

Milford Post 23 was on the verge of breaking the game open, and Flurey just had a simple message for Flynn – calm down and stop trying to do too much.

The visit worked, as Flynn got out of the inning and then retired 16 of the final 17 hitters he faced, giving Sweeney enough time to tie the game in the eighth. Post 2 scored a run in the top of the 11th and managed to get out of two jams in the extra innings to beat Milford 5-4 at Keyes Field.

Post 23 put two runners on in the bottom of the 10th, but Joe Lamontagne got Patrick Martin to ground into a double play to end the threat. And with two out in the 11th, Milford’s Padrick Harvey made the final out at third, trying to go from first to third on a single to right field.

“I like the fight,” Flurey said of his team. “They never gave up and they’ve been like that all year. I don’t look at any lead as being safe against us because these kids never quit. That’s the sign of a good team. They battle and they’re a joy to coach.”

Lamontagne got the win for Sweeney (13-3) by pitching two shutout innings of relief, allowing four hits, while Flynn went nine innings, allowing four runs – three earned – on six hits and two walks with nine strikeouts.

Milford (9-6) got a single run off Flynn in the bottom of the third on back-to-back two-out singles by Nick Webster and Jake McMaster, and Post 23 added more in the fourth. Ryan Britton and Martin led off with singles, and after an out, Britton scored on a single by Mike Mancini.

A single by Chandler MacKenzie loaded the bases and Martin scored when the throw from catcher Zach Szczechowicz to Flynn went into center field. Mason Gaudette walked to re-load the bases and Webster grounded into a fielder’s choice for the second out.

Flynn then misplayed a grounder by McMaster, allowing another run to score to put Milford up 4-0, and that brought Flurey out of the dugout.

“I just told him to relax,’ Flurey said. You’re in a jam and you’re not going to make it better by trying to overthrow and do everything by yourself.

“He pounds the strike zone. That’s our philosophy. We tell the kids that, you’ve got to throw strikes. I think we have a very good defense. If they put the ball in play and find a hole, we can live with that. We preach pitching to contact and Nolan is great at that.”

Sweeney started chipping away against MacKenzie in the sixth. The Milford starter had retired seven in a row when Grant Corbett led off the inning with a double and scored on a hit by Kevin Gonzales. Ryan Baldwin singled to put runners on first and second, but MacKenzie got Connor Walsh to ground into a double play to end the inning.

Then in the eighth, Dan O’Connor reach on an error to lead off and scored on a two-out double by Walsh. Szczechowicz then ended MacKenzie’s day on the mound by crushing a two-run home run to left to tie the game at 4.

“I told the kids afterward, it’s my bad, and I told Chandler, I would have done exactly the same thing he did,” Milford coach Frank Douglas said. “Mason warmed up and I told Chandler I was going to make the change and he said ‘coach, I feel a hundred percent and I’ve only thrown 75 pitches, I can get it done.’

“We were going through the top of the order, they’d seen him a couple of times and I wanted to give them a different look, but it’s tough to tell a kid give me the ball. Had it been the first time we saw them, I wouldn’t blame myself. This was the second time, we knew they had good sticks, and I should have made the move.”

MacKenzie went 7 2/3 innings, allowing four runs – one earned – on seven hits and a walk with four strikeouts. Gaudette came on to get Milford out of the inning and made it through the ninth and 10th unscathed.

But in the 11th, Szczechowicz led off with a single and went to second on a sacrifice. Peter Abood followed with a ground ball that bounced down the third base line, scoring Szczechowicz to put Sweeney on top.

Lamontagne got the first two outs of the bottom of the 11th, but MacKenzie kept things alive with a single. Harvey came in to run and Ryan Aho pinch hit for Gaudette and slapped a single into right field. Harvey tested the arm of Baldwin and made the game’s final out on a close play at third.