Stoughton Legion Baseball Snaps Winless Streak in Slugfest at Holbrook

This past week the Stoughton Legion Post 89 baseball team had three games in three days, which completed a stretch of seven games in seven nights. Stoughton had three consecutive road games, at Hyde Park, at Holbrook and at Jamaica Plain, from Tuesday through Thursday.

The team went 1-2 in this three game stretch, snapping what had become a 10-game winless streak, but also being eliminated from postseason contention. The team ends the week at 3-10-1.

Stoughton had started the season with two home wins over Holbrook and Jamaica Plain, but heading into this week, had a nine-game winless streak to fall to 2-8-1. The lone non-defeat in that span was a 4-4 tie at Weymouth.

This past week began with a contest at Hyde Park, on Tuesday night, a team that defeated Stoughton 6-4 the night before (Monday) in Stoughton. This game was also a close matchup with Stoughton coming out on the short end of an 8-5 score.

The loss extended Stoughton’s winless streak to 10 games. Hyde Park jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead and increased it to 7-1, scoring three unearned runs in the fifth inning.

Stoughton responded with four runs in the sixth inning, to cut the deficit to 7-5. Mike Connolly continued his strong hitting with two hits, including a triple. Brett McDonald contributed with a double and Pat Jackman and Eric McPherson each had two stolen bases.

But, Hyde Park added another insurance run in its half of the sixth inning to go up 8-5 and then held on, retiring Stoughton in the seventh inning to assure the win.

For Stoughton, Myles Comeau was a standout on defense, making two running catches in right field on deep fly balls in the gap. Brandon Johnson pitched well in three innings of relief, allowing only one earned run, to keep Stoughton within striking distance.

“I was proud of the way we battled,” said Stoughton coach Jim Derochea. “We’ve lost two key players to season-ending injuries, Luca Venterosa (knee) and one of our captains, Kyle Connors (ankle surgery) on top of a long winless streak, so it would have been easy to pack it in when we were down by six, but our team continued to fight hard. That’s a testament to the character of this team.”

Stoughton finally broke its winless streak capturing its first road victory, 13-12, in a seesaw battle against Holbrook Post 137, Wednesday night. It was the second meeting this season between these two teams, with Stoughton also winning the season-opener.

Stoughton pounded out 15 hits, but Holbrook jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning.

The Stoughton bats awoke in the third inning. Jackman led off with a double and then stole third. Stephen Pike drove Jackman in, with the first of his five RBI’s for the game. Stoughton pushed another run across to tie the game on a walk and two hit batsmen before Kyle Phillips lined a single to right to give Stoughton a 4-2 lead.

Holbrook came right back, scoring three runs to retake the lead, 5-4. Stoughton countered with two runs to get back the advantage, 6-5. Jackman again came up big with a single, followed by a walk to Pike. Both scored later scored on a throwing error.

After Holbrook retook the lead, 7-6, with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth, Stoughton struck for four runs to take a 10-7 advantage. Phillips, Comeau and Bryan Mokrisky all singled to load the bases, to start the fifth inning. Jackman followed with his fourth hit of the game, to score Phillips. Pike then cleared the bases with a long double to centerfield.

After Holbrook cut the lead to 10-9, Phillips scored on a double by Mokrisky. Mokrisky then scored on a double by Jackman, who completed a five-for-five day.

“I was pleased with the team’s effort. We came out and hit the ball,” said Derochea. “It wasn’t a pretty win, but the fire and the effort was there and that’s what we’re looking for. Pat Jackman is hitting well over .400 after this five-for-five performance. He’s having a great season at bat, on the field and his speed on the bases puts a lot of pressure on the other team.”

Comeau and Pike helped to push Stoughton’s lead to 13-9, and that’s what it would take, as Holbrook scored three runs in the sixth inning to make it a one-run game, entering the final inning. Pike came in and closed the door, recording a save and sealing the long-awaited victory for Stoughton.

Last night (Thursday), Stoughton finally completed a grueling seven games in seven nights, with a rematch on the road against Jamaica Plain, a team Stoughton defeated, 4-2, at home in the second game of the season.

But, Stoughton could not continue its winning ways and lost to JP, 13-4, to drop to 3-10-1 and is now eliminated from post-season contention.

Jamaica Plain put the game out of reach, with a 10-run second inning, paced by six walks. Stoughton scored three runs to cut the deficit. Connolly delivered a two-run triple. Stoughton’s only other highlight was in the seventh inning when Mokrisky stole home.

Stoughton now has four games remaining in the regular season, as part of the District 6 East Division; Sunday at Braintree, Tuesday and Thursday at home against Morrissette (Quincy) and the season finale on Friday, July 8 at Cohasset.