Nine-run second lifts Milford past Hollis/Brookline

HOLLIS - The Milford High School baseball team scored nine runs in the second and held off Hollis/Brookline Monday, 10-5, for its first win of the season.

The Spartans recorded 11 hits, including three for extra bases, and pitchers Sean Stroehlein, Logan Danforth and Nick Webster kept the Cavaliers in check, allowing five runs on 10 hits and two walks.

Cam Douglas had two hits, including a three-run home run to cap the second inning, and Alex Simo had a two-run double among his two hits and also drove in three runs for Milford (1-5). Ryan Britton added two hits, including a run-scoring double, and scored a run.

Mitch Frick was 2-for-4 for H/B, including a solo home run, and had two RBIs, Colin Pellerin had three hits and a RBI and Mike Chase had a double and a triple, but the Cavs (5-2) couldn't get much else together offensively.

"All around, we weren’t good enough," H/B coach Ryan Coulter said. "When you fall behind that big, you can’t steal, you can’t bunt, you can’t do a lot of the things that we like to do to get the defense moving. We took a lot of called third strikes that we don’t usually do."

The three Milford starters combined for 10 strikeouts, five of which were recorded by Webster. In all, seven of those strikeouts ended in a called third strike.

H/B's Jake Lavoie pitched well in relief of starter Tim Rencken, going 5 1/3 innings and allowing one run on six hits and two walks with six strikeouts. But by then, the hole was too big for the Cavs.

Frick's home run and a run-scoring single by Colin Pellerin gave H/B a 2-0 lead after one inning, and Rencken got Danforth to fly out to open the second, but the next six Milford batters reached base, starting with a single by Douglas.

Brett Stagnone followed with a walk and a single by Stroehlein loaded the bases. Webster hit the first pitch back to Rencken, but the ball squirted under the pitcher's glove, allowing Webster to reach safely as Douglas scored. Simo followed with a double down the first base line, scoring Stagnone and Stroehlein to put Milford up 3-2, and Britton dropped a double between outfielders in right center field, bringing Webster home.

Kevin Poulter grounded out to second for the second out, scoring Simo to make it 5-2. Britton went to third on the play and scored on a wild pitch that H/B catcher Frick couldn't find. Matt Scott walked and Danforth reached on an error to bring up Douglas, who crushed a ball to center field for a three-run homer that put Milford up 9-2 and ended Rencken's day.

Lavioe came on and struck out Stagnone to end the inning.

"We gave ourselves a chance," Milford assistant coach Keith Jones said. "We put runners on and good things happen when you put runners on base. We hit the ball better than we had in a long time."

The Cavs got a run back in both the second and fourth innings, but both times stranded a runner in scoring position. The Spartans made it 10-4 with a run in the fifth, and they had a chance for more in the seventh, but left the bases loaded.

H/B scored a run in the bottom of the seventh and had two more runners on, but Lavoie flied out to right to end the game.

Both teams are back in action on Wednesday, as H/B hosts Windham and Milford hosts Con-Val.