Stoughton High Baseball Gets Closer to Postseason with Win over Sharon

In a game the needed to win to realistically keep its postseason tournament hopes alive, the Black Knights received another strong pitching performance from Mike Gallagher, received some timely hitting and took advantage of some uncharacteristic miscues, beating the Eagles 5-2 Thursday afternoon in Stoughton.

With the win, Stoughton improves to 8-9 and 5-7 in the Hockomock League. Sharon is now 7-9, but with a 6-7 league record, the Eagles clinched at least a share of second place in the Hockomock's Davenport Division, making them postseason bound. The first and second place teams from both Hockomock Divisions advance to the state tournament.

Stoughton is on the brink of a postseason berth. The Black Knights can get in by winning against on Friday and on Monday, giving the Black Knights the magic number of 10 wins, or the team can beat Canton, which would give Stoughton the same league record as Sharon, sending both schools to the tournament, tied for second in the Davenport. The Canton game is the must-win.

Stoughton started the scoring off in the first inning, capitalizing on Sharon errors to build a 2-0 lead. 

Mike Connelly struck out, in what should have been the final out of the first, but he reached base on an overthrow after the ball got away from Sharon catcher Mitch Goldenberg.

Pat Raeke then followed crushing a double over Brad Kaufman's head in center, scoring Connelly. Raeke scored when Gallagher reached on an error. 

Stoughton added to its lead with single runs in the second, third and fourth, to jump out to a 5-0 advantage. 

Pat Jackman singed Zach Gibb home with two outs in the second to make it 3-0; Gallagher scored on a Gibb single with two outs in the third to make it 4-0; and Will McGrath singled, scoring Jackman with one out in the fourth to make it 5-0.

On the mound, Gallagher allowed two runs in six innings, not allowing a hit until the fifth.

"There was no question that the kids would be ready to go," Stougthon coach Mike Armour said of this team following their big win. 

"Pat Raeke really set the tone when he hit that double to drive in the first run and from there on out just chipping away, getting the lead early. Gallagher did what he's been doing all year in terms of challenging these guys," Armour continued. 

"He pitched very well," Sharon coach Joel Peckham said of Gallagher's effort. "His defense played very well behind him and our defense did not play well."

The defensive miscues allowed Stoughton to take the early lead.

"That was tough because we haven't done that all year long. We just came off a huge 10-inning win over Oliver Ames [4-3 on May 15] and we did not make a mistake in 10 innings. We did not make one error," Pekham said. 

"I don't know if it was a letdown, but we just weren't ready to play at the level [Stoughton was]."

Down 5-0, Sharon started to chip away at the Stoughton lead in the fifth inning. Goldberg reached on an error and then scored to make it 5-1 after back to back singles by Nate Pederson and Eric Lesser (RBI). But, both Pederson and Lesser were left on base.

Sharon made it 5-2 in the sixth when Nandhu Mohan scored, but that's as close as the Eagles could get.

Mike Dixon came in and closed the game for Stoughton with an eight-pitch 1-2-3 seventh inning.

Kevin McLaughlin and Matt Thomas pitched for Sharon.

The Eagles host Seekonk on Saturday. Meanwhile Stoughton travels to Quincy on Friday before the must-win showdown at Canton on Monday.

"I think we're playing good baseball and if we can just sneak into the tournament by any means necessary, I feel like not only can we get in but I feel like we might be able to win a game or two," Armour said.