MILTON — When Scott Longo first bought phrase that he was getting the beginning Wednesday, he knew the stress could be at its highest. To be frank, he basically was going to have to show in the most effective performances of his younger profession to maintain his group’s historic season alive.
Mission completed. The sophomore fired six innings of shutout ball, surrendering only one hit whereas putting out 9 as top-seeded Milton continued its intense pursuit of a Div. 2 baseball championship with a 9-3 victory over No. 17 Norwood.
“Fastball was working really good today,” mentioned Longo. “I was painting it good on the outside corner. Slider had good movement, and I was able to get a couple of rollers with that along with the changeup. Changeup headed outside a lot, and it just got rollovers with the contact I was looking for, and the defense always makes the plays behind my back.”
In the night main as much as this Round of 16 tilt, Milton coach Brendan Morrissey had his group put together by dealing with larger velocities at observe with one of many state’s premier pitching prospects in Jack Cropper slated to begin for Norwood.
After Longo opened the sport by putting out three of the primary 4 hitters he confronted, the Wildcats (19-3) stepped as much as the plate, and did so with the final word type of depth. Jimmy Fallon bought issues going with a one-out triple, solely to look at Longo head to the dish. The sophomore helped out his personal trigger by blooping a single to proper, offering Milton a 1-0 benefit. The Wildcats have been simply getting began.
“I think it says a lot about us,” mentioned Fallon. “I know a lot of people outside of our dugout were doubting us. He’s a great pitcher, they thought he could come in and shut us down. I thought we have a lot of confidence. Knew we couldn’t be scared of him. We just came in, and did what we did.”
Milton would tack on a pair of runs following a handed ball and a bases-loaded stroll by Reid Dexter, taking a 3-0 lead into the second inning.
“We just wanted to break the ice early,” Morrissey mentioned. “Get a run on the board. We were able to put up a few early and add to it with some aggressive baserunning, and kind of just kept padding the lead throughout the game. Then, Scott Longo was absolutely terrific. We know what he can do, and I think this was a huge game for him to show everyone else what he can do in a big spot.”
Fallon would drive in yet one more run within the backside of the fourth off a fielder’s option to make it 5-0, and his group was off and working.
Cropper tossed 5.1 innings for Norwood (11-11), permitting 5 runs on seven hits whereas putting out 5. The Mustangs discovered a spark on the plate within the last stanza, with Gerry Frey, Sean Steeves and Brian Dearborn every driving in a run earlier than Ben Catudal slammed the door shut with a game-ending strikeout for Milton.
“These guys didn’t shake,” Morrissey mentioned. “They just kept competing. They came in ready to hit, dialed up the machine. I said that Jack Cropper’s a hell of a pitcher. They’re a well-coached team. We said that we had to come in and be aggressive. We were aggressive on the bases, aggressive with the bats, and it really paid off in our favor.”
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