Stoughton High Baseball Falls 10-1 in Road Opener at Franklin

The Stoughton High baseball team played their first two games at home this season, losing to in a non-league season-opener 4-2, and earning a thrilling comeback victory over 5-4, in extra innings (eight), in their first Hockomock League Davenport Division contest (small schools).

In both games, Stoughton got many contributions and combined great pitching with timely hitting, bunting, sacrifices and smart base running. The Black Knights have an abundance of talent, but after losing 10 seniors from last year's team, are very young.

“This team is a very intelligent team despite our youth, and our goal is to return to the (post-season) tournament, but it won’t be easy in such a tough league,” said Armour.

The Black Knights looked to build off the momentum from their win over Foxborough with a good performance in their road opener against Hockomock League foe Franklin of the Kelly-Rex Division (large schools) on Monday afternoon, but were unable to do so against the Panthers in a lopsided 10-1 defeat.

Senior ace pitcher Sean O’Malley was touched up for five runs in three innings, suffering his second loss of the young season. Kenny Boykin gave up three runs in two innings and Mike Gallagher didn’t give up an earned run in the sixth inning, but the defense didn’t support him, and the Panthers scored two unearned runs to account for the final score.

“Franklin was just the better team today, and got to our pitching staff,” Armour said. “We now got to bounce back and put this game behind us and continue to improve and learn from our mistakes.”

Stoughton did take an early lead, scoring their only run in the first inning. Pat Jackman, after making the varsity team a year ago as a freshman, continued the strong start to his sophomore season. Jackman finds many ways to get on base, as he walked to open the game. A stolen base and a fielder’s choice then allowed Jackman to score on an O’Malley sacrifice fly.

Jackman was also solid in the field at shortstop, as was senior Eric McPherson in centerfield. Another bright spot for the Black Knights was the hitting of sophomore catcher Mike Connelly, who went 2 for 3 with two stolen bases.

Franklin tied the game in the bottom of the first inning, before putting the game out of reach with a four-run third, a three-run fifth and a two-run sixth inning.

Stoughton (1-2 overall and 1-1 in the Hockomock) now will play its next three games at home: this Wednesday against defending Hockomock League champion Oliver Ames at 3:30 p.m.; next Tuesday against Mansfield at 12 p.m.; and next Wednesday against non-league O’Bryant at 12 p.m.