Gallery: Stoughton High Baseball's Season Comes to End in D2 South Sectional Final

"Wish [next season] started tomorrow. Can't wait," Stoughton High baseball coach Mike Armour said on the Plymouth North baseball field at the end of the of the 2012 season after the Black Knights had just lost 3-0 in a spirited opening round playoff fight. "We'll be back and we'll be a force to be reckoned with next year, I have no doubt."

He was right. 

Fast-forward a year, and an emotional Armour was summing up the 2013 season Sunday afternoon on the Campanelli Stadium field, where his team just finished as the runner up in the Division 2 South Sectional Final, two games from a state championship.  

A couple of big Hingham hits, some uncharacteristic Stoughton errors and a few too many runners left on base cost the sixth-seeded Black Knights in their attempt to upset fourth-seeded Hingham. The Harbormen ended up holding on for the 7-4 win Sunday at the home of the Brockton Rox.

Hingham, now 19-6, advances to play Division 2 North champion Masconomet in a Division 2 state semifinal game. Meanwhile, Stoughton ends the season at 16-8, including exciting playoff wins over Dennis-Yarmouth (5-4), Greater New Bedford (13-9) and Sharon (12-6) to reach the D2 South championship game.

"These guys love each other. I love these guys, so it's hard. It's been a fun run. It's unfortunate it had to end today," Armour said. 

After Stoughton went down in order in the top of the first (the only time Stoughton did not score in the first inning of a game this postseason), Hingham scored three runs in the bottom of the first. 

Stoughton starter Mike Gallagher made quick work of the first two Hingham batters, but Edmund Bowler then walked, Evan Flannagan reached on a seeing-eye single and Austin Irvin got a favorable bounce on an infield hit, and suddenly the bases were loaded. 

Hingham pitcher John Carlson then helped his own cause, crushing a triple to left centerfield, clearing the bases. 

Gallagher singled and later scored on a McGrath ground out in the top of the second to cut the deficit to 3-1, but Stoughton ended the inning stranding two runners. 

In the top of the third, Jovani Pires hit a one-out solo home run down the left field line, just over the 320-foot wall, making it a 3-2 game. Mike Connelly, Gallagher and Pat Raeke all reached to load the bases but Carlson got out of the jam. 

Stoughton stranded Pat Jackman on second in the top of the fourth, with a total of six base runners left on from the second through fourth innings. 

Three Stoughton errors in the bottom of the fourth helped Hingham plate four runs, with the Harbormen opening up a 7-2 lead.

The Black Knights got two runs back in the top of the sixth off Carlson, with a Pires double scoring Jake Gibb and Jackman, making it 7-4.

Gallagher kept Hingham off the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth, giving Stoughton one last chance for a comeback, but Carlson retired Stoughton in order in the top of the seventh, to cement the Hingham win.

"You talk about Mike [Connelly], Pat [Jackman] and Will [McGrath], the captains who have been here for four years - could not be more proud of them," Armour said after the game. "Gallagher pitched his butt off today. We could have made some more plays for him - we gave Hingham some runs - not to take anything away from them, they were the better team today; we didn't get it done. I feel for Mike Gallagher, for the way he pitched. He deserved better. Jovani [also] came to play."

Gallagher and Pires, both juniors will be back next season, but Sunday marked the end of the road for seniors Connelly, Jackman and McGrath, all four year varsity players, as well as fellow Class of 2013 graduates Mike Dixon, Brett Hoffman and Mikey Romaine.

"The seniors have nothing to hang their heads about," Armour said. "This was a heck of a season. I couldn't be more proud of these guys. Just great kids. It's been an absolute pleasure and an honor coaching them."

In addition to it being a heck of a season, it has been a heck of a four-year run, with the team making the postseason three out of four years - this after finishing with just one win back in 2009. 

Along with Gallagher and Pires, fellow juniors Raeke, Sam Werman, Kaleb Ballou, and the Gibb brothers, Zach, a junior, and Jake, a freshman, all played key roles on this team in 2013, and are set to return in 2014. 

"We're losing our three captains, we're losing Mike Dixon, we're losing the leadership of Mikey Romaine and Brett Hoffman. You couldn't ask for a better senior class. But we have some pieces coming back as well," Armour said. 

"We'll learn from it. It's going to hurt for a while, but I think we'll be back and be ready to go next year. Absolutely."