The Walpole High baseball program prides itself on the discipline to avoid mistakes and then pounce on the opponent’s to come away victorious.
And while that was true for parts of last night’s Division 1 South final against BC High at Veterans Memorial Field, the Eagles reversed that strategy on the Rebel in the critical moments of a 4-2, 11-inning comeback win that ends Walpole’s season at 20-4.
BC High moves on to the state semifinal Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. to face North champion Lincoln-Sudbury.
“Little things, little things,” said Walpole coach Bill Tompkins. “Little things happen, but tip your cap to BC High, they made those little things and that won the ballgame for them tonight. I think they were a little bit more aggressive hitting than we were tonight.”
A rally in the bottom of the seventh gave Walpole a 2-1 lead heading into the final innings, but it slipped away in a fashion the Rebels are not too familiar with. After Walpole reliever Eric Brown threw the first two balls of the top of the seventh, Tompkins called in ace Sean McDermott to close it out on two days rest following a 130-pitch win over Catholic Memorial in the semifinals. He allowed leadoff hitter Tyler Horan to single and reach third on a wild pitch before avoiding damage with a strikeout of Tom Chase.
When Chris Josie led off the bottom half with a triple to deep right-center, it seemed the Rebels were about to score a critical insurance run. But McDermott’s ensuing grounder to shortstop was sharp enough to allow BC High’s Jimmy Albano to throw a perfect strike to Tom Conley for the out.
“That was huge,” said BC High coach Norm Walsh. “And to me the game was very frustrating because the first five innings we racked the ball all over the ballpark right at people. We just couldn’t get anything to fall in a critical situation. We lined out twice with guys in scoring position. I started to get that sinking feelings it’s one of those games that we’re going to hit a lot of at’em balls and we’re going to come up short on a couple of dinkers and it looked that way for a while.”
Although Pat Nicholson (2-for-5, run scored) followed with a single, Walsh went to John Flanagan in relief of starter Bill Miller and he sat down the next two batters to stop the bleeding.
That missed opportunity stung as a leadoff walk to Brian Merrigan (2-for-4, 3 runs) in the top of the ninth left the door open and as he stole second, the throw went into the outfield and he advanced to third. McDermott struck out Matt Kelly but albino then hit a soft grounder to second baseman Niccolo Mastromatteo and Merrigan slid in with the tying run. McDermott induced two groundouts to end the inning but the unearned run sent the game into extras.
After a scoreless 10th, McDermott retired Chase to lead off the top of the 11th but Merrigan and Kelly singled to left to put runners on first and third with one out and Albano (4-for-6, 3 RBI) plated Merrigan with a base hit up the middle for what turned out to be the game-winning run. Conley then hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Kelly to make it 4-2.
Flanagan, who allowed just one baserunner in his 3 2/3, then retired the Rebels in order in the ninth with a strikeout and a pair of groundouts to Albano.
“Sean’s been our workhorse all year and did we go to him too much? Most certainly we did. He wanted it. He wouldn’t have wanted it any other way,” said Tompkins. “I can’t be more proud of that young man. He’s just carried himself all year with class. Everybody’s been marked after him and he’s just performed great every year. You’ve got to give the credit to that team (BC High). That team was a very aggressive hitting team and they were a little bit better tonight offensively than we were and that was the difference in the game.”
Walpole took the lead with a two-run seventh off Miller, who allowed just two hits in his first six innings. Nicholson led off with a single up the middle and Miller nearly averted more trouble with a strikeout and a groundout by Steve Murray that advanced Nicholson to second. But Dan Donovan (2-for-4, RBI, run) brought him home with his second hit of the night. Matt Romines then hit the ball over to Albano at short, but his throw to second went into right field and Donovan advanced to third. Billy Hickey (2-for-4, RBI) then singled to center again and the Rebels held a 2-1 lead.
Early on, BC High was getting to Nicholson, who started, but the Rebels kept avoiding a crooked inning. In the second, Chase doubled to right-center but a Rick Graham-to-John Phelan-to-Romines relay cut down Tim Smith at the plate. The Eagles took the lead in the fifth when Albano singled in Merrigan, who led off with a double, but Brown started a 1-2-3 double play with the bases loaded to escape again.
For Walpole, seniors McDermott, Phelan, Brown, Romines, Nicholson, Josie, Graham, Donovan, Phil Gouthro, John Malone, Kevin Carty and Joe Hebner wrapped up their Rebel careers.
