Pelham holds off Milford again

MILFORD - The Pelham High School baseball team was thinking about the past late in Monday's game against Milford.

Up by six runs in the seventh inning, the Pythons were remembering the first time they had a late lead against the Spartans this season, and how they needed a walk-off hit to win 8-7.

No such late-game heroics were needed this time.

Pelham starter Dave Bronson pitched a complete game, giving up one run on four hits and a walk, and allowing just one base runner over the final four innings. Bronson also had a two-run single in the fifth inning that helped Pelham build its lead on the way to a 7-1 win in Division II action.

"You have to have a short memory in baseball, but sometimes you have to have a long one because you have to remember when teams fight and when teams lay down, and these guys never do," Pelham coach Matt Stone said. "This team doesn’t die. We had them at our place and the next thing you know, it’s tied in the last inning."

In the first game on April 21, Milford trailed 4-0 before rallying for six runs in the top of the fifth. Pelham (7-7) went back ahead in the sixth, but the Spartans tied it in the seventh before the Pythons won in the bottom of the inning.

This time, the Spartans struggled to get runners on and had one bad inning in the field.

"One inning, again, just like all season long," Milford coach Brett Jepson said. "That one inning killed us. We just continue to have one bad inning. There’s a lot of games, we’ve been in it. This one, we were in it."

Milford (5-9) had tied the game 1-1 in the third inning on a two-out RBI double by Ryan Britton, but trailed 2-1 going into the top of the fifth inning when things unraveled.

Before the inning, the coaching staff pondered whether to bring in Logan Danforth in relief or send starter Sean Stroehlien out to start another inning. The coaches went with Stroehlien, who had allowed two runs on three hits with four strikeouts to that point.

Bill Cann, Pelham’s No. 9 hitter, led off the inning with a walk, and after a fly out, Stroehlien walked Jesse Vaknoras. Jepson made the switch then, bringing in Danforth, who got Evan Sage to pop up to third for the second out, but walked Pat McLean to load the bases.

Danforth got ahead of the next batter, Bronson, but the Pelham pitcher lined a 1-2 pitch into right field and the ball died in the outfield grass, allowing Cann and Vaknoras to score to make it 4-1. Devin DeCantent followed with a single up the middle, scoring McLean and Bronson to put the Pythons up 6-1 before Danforth got a ground out to end the inning.

“(Stroehlien) pitched a great game, but it started going south,” Jepson said. “We debated, should we put (Danforth) in in the fifth, knowing this week and what we need. Usually, we put him and he can get it done.”

The loss could prove costly for the Spartans, who are still fighting for a playoff spot. Milford still has games left at Sanborn (6-8) on Wednesday and at Windham (2-12) on Friday, but even with two wins, the Spartans will need some help.

"We still have a chance," Jepson said. "We still have two teams we can go against. This would have been huge, especially since we were in the ball game."

After an 0-5 start, the playoffs seemed unlikely for the Spartans, but Milford won five of its next seven games to get back into the race. But the loss to Pelham and a loss last Friday to Con-Val, a team Milford had already beaten this year, dampened those hopes.

"I think they’ve come along," Jepson said of this season's progress. "We’ve cut down our strikeouts, we’re hitting the ball, but we’re not finding that key hit. It’s not going to be easy against these next two teams. Now we’ll have to scrap."