FARMINGDALE — As fitting endings go, the conclusion of Thursday’s Western Class C baseball quarterfinal at Hall-Dale was sickeningly snug for Monmouth.
With the last in a long line of rallies brewing and the potential tying run at first base, Hall-Dale reliever Brian Allen’s delivery to Phil Rowe took a short hop and squirted about six feet away from catcher Matt Plourde.
Devin West broke from third to the plate, but Plourde’s snag and flip to Allen at the plate nailed him and slammed the door on the Mustangs’ season, 5-3.
No. 4 Hall-Dale (12-5) won its ninth straight game under interim coach Bob Sinclair and will travel to No. 1 Dirigo for the second straight year in Saturday’s semifinals.
Fifth-seeded Monmouth, snakebitten by five errors, four cut down on the basepaths and 11 left on base, concluded at 11-6.
“This is as confident as we’ve been all year,” said Hall-Dale freshman third baseman Ryan Sinclair, the coach’s son. “We knew if we beat Monmouth today, it would give us the confidence to maybe win a state championship. You don’t know. We’re on a roll.”
The Bulldogs bit first with a pair of unearned runs in peculiar fashion in the bottom of the fourth. And each time Monmouth tenaciously scratched its way back into the game thereafter, Hall-Dale answered.
Sinclair (2-for-3, two RBIs) laced a one-out single to right field off Nate Gagne in the fourth. Older brother Nick Sinclair then hit a grounder to third, but the attempt to nab Ryan at second was dropped.
There was a brief collision after the ball trickled away into shallow center field, and base umpire Jeff Mertzel called obstruction against Monmouth. Aware of the rule that dictated he would be safe no matter what happened on the rest of the play, the younger Sinclair broke for third. Monmouth’s throw was on the money, but again it was dropped, and Hall-Dale earned the extra base.
“That’s something we worked on way back in one of the first practices, and it stuck with me, so I just got up and ran,” Sinclair said.
Equally alert, Nick ended up at second, allowing him to follow his brother home on Allen’s RBI single after the ball bounced away from Monmouth’s left fielder.
Two baserunning blunders limited a promising Monmouth rally to one run in the fifth.
Hall-Dale lefty Bobby Cumler picked off Phil Rowe after a leadoff single. Kyle Fletcher then doubled down the left field line and scored on Billy Cummings’ single, only to see Cummings caught and retired in a rundown.
Consecutive singles by Zac McNaughton, Colin Lush, Taylor Lockhart and Ryan Sinclair made it a 4-1 Bulldogs lead in the bottom of that frame.
“I think we’ve really improved, and a lot of it has to do with how relaxed the team is now,” said Lush, who had five putouts in center field during Cumler’s 5 1/3-inning stint. “It’s a different atmosphere. It’s nothing we’ve worked on really. The relaxed setting really helps us. We’ve found that we’re a team that thrives on that.”
Back stormed Monmouth, though. West walked, went to second on a balk and scored on Brett Wilson’s second single of the afternoon. Rowe walked and Fletcher followed with an RBI single to chase Cumler in favor of the hard-throwing Allen.
Allen coaxed Cummings into a pop-up for the second out. After walking Alex Curtis to load the bases, he got Josh Fournier on a slow roller and a strong throw across the diamond by Ryan Sinclair.
Hall-Dale picked up a crucial run in its half of the sixth. Again it was unearned against reliever Fletcher, who beat the Bulldogs 8-2 a month ago.
Kurt Thiele’s leadoff single was harmless until the Mustangs booted a grounder that would have been the third out. Lush exacted the toll with a single to right.
“The starter with his sidearm delivery kind of tooled with us a little bit. Then once Fletcher came in we locked it down,” Lush said.
Hall-Dale’s lone error and a single by West gave Monmouth life in the seventh. Allen pounced on Brandon Goff’s sacrifice bunt attempt and cut down the lead runner at third.
Monmouth then hesitated on Wilson’s looper into shallow right field, turning a single into a fielder’s choice at second.
The wild pitch and the play at the plate subsequently ended it.
koakes@sunjournal.com
-
- Hall-Dale catcher Matt Plourde, left, celebrates Brian Allen getting Monmouth’s Devin West out at home in the seventh inning, stopping the Mustangs hope of catching the Bulldogs Thursday in Farmingdale. It was the final out of the game and Hall Dale won 5-3.
-
- Monmouth’s Phil Rowe and Hall-Dale’s Taylor Lockhart look to the umpire for a calling during a pick-off at first base Thursday in Farmingdale. Rowe was out and the Bulldogs went on to take down the Mustangs 5-3.
-
- Hall-Dale’s Kurt Thiele tags out Monmouth’s Billy Cummings between first and second bases Thursday in Farmingdale during a late game run-down. The Bulldogs won 5-3.
-
- Hall-Dale’s Matt Plourde just barely makes it to third base protected by Monmouth’s Josh Fournier early in their game Thursday. Plourde was safe.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
