Sports

Babe Ruth: Medfield Loses World Series to Milford ... Again

History repeated itself Friday as the Medfield Senior Babe Ruth baseball team lost the World Series to Milford for a second consecutive season after an 8-6 loss Friday at Curt Schilling Field.

For the second straight season, the Medfield Senior Babe Ruth team lost to Milford in the Central Massachusetts Senior Babe Ruth World Series.

Medfield took the defending champions to a decisive Game 3 Friday but fell short of the league's ultimate prize, suffering an 8-6 loss at Curt Schilling Field.

"This hurts," said Medfield head coach Kevin Glasheen. "Our kids played hard but it still hurts because you never know, we may not be back here for awhile but we'll put a team together next year and come back and do it again but it hurts."

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Medfield fell into a 4-0 hole in the first inning as Milford hitters showed patience against Medfield starting pitcher Corey Chung, who entered Friday's Game 3 with a 2-0 record in the postseason, picking up series clinching victories against Sudbury and Natick, but couldn't get out of the second inning and struggled with control.

"You can’t spot Milford a four-run lead … that was a tough first inning for us," Glasheen said.

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Milford drew back-to-back walks to open the game and Alex Tonkonogy loaded the bases with a broken bat single. Chris Trafecante followed with a two-run double over the left fielder's head. Ryan Simoneau followed with a dribbler that snuck through the right side of the infield to score a run and increase the early lead to 3-0. With one out, Eric Fernandes lined out to Chung, who tried to double up the runner at third but over threw his third baseman, allowing the runner to score and give Milford the quick 4-0 lead.

After walking the first two batters of the second inning, Chung was replaced by Brendan Heaney, who was coming back from arm soreness.

Heaney gave up a lead off home run in the fourth inning to Chaney Gaudette to give Milford a five-run lead but Medfield battled back in the bottom of the fourth.

"When you spot them four runs it’s hard, especially after being shut out [Thursday] and we didn’t get any breaks but they’re very resilient and we fought back," said Glasheen. "We were close and they didn’t break. Last year we didn’t fair too well in Game 2 but [Friday] I’m proud because we can say we went down fighting."

After John Buchanan lined out to start the inning, Joe Shebertes and Mike Ray drew back-to-back walks and John Zimmerman singled in a run after Simoneau was called for a balk, advancing the runners to second and third. Matt Pembroke followed with a single to center field to score both runners to cut the deficit to 5-3. Glasheen called for a sacrifice bunt from Zack Bonfatti to advance Pembroke to third base and Matt Casieri coming up to the plate. Casieri walked and Warren Lent singled up the middle to score the runner from third but Casieri was thrown out at the plate after Milford's catcher effectively blocked the plate and tagged the runner before he could touch the plate. 

Still, the damage was done as Medfield scored four runs in the frame and pulled within one, 5-4.

Milford answered Medfield's rally with a three-run fifth. Heaney was lifted in the fifth trailing Milford 6-4 and was replaced by Remy Fragola, who allowed two inherited runners to score in the frame and when the third out was recorded, Medfield's deficit was back to four, 8-4. Despite the tough inning, Glasheen was pleased with his pitchers' efforts in relief. 

"Brendan Heaney pitched very well," Glasheen said. "He’s coming back after a sore arm and hasn’t pitched in awhile but he did very well and kept us in the game. Remy Fragola pitched excellent, he kept us in the game."

Medfield responded with two runs in the bottom of the fifth to cut the deficit to 8-6 but that would be as close as it would get to a World Series title. 

With one out in the inning, Pat Lenihan singled to left field and after Buchanan flied out to right field, Shebertes stepped in the box and hit a deep fly ball to right hooking towards the foul line that fell fair. Lenihan scored and Shebertes motored around the bases for an inside the park home run as Milford's right fielder was hurt on the play after hitting his head against the fence and was unable to get the ball back to the infield.

Play was delayed 16 minutes as Medfield police and the Medfield Ambulance responded to the scene to take the injured player to the hospital. 

"I hope the kid that hurt himself in right field is OK," Glasheen said. "He seemed to be doing OK after the initial play was over."

Medfield hitters went quietly in the sixth and seventh innings and after Buchanan grounded out to second base to end the game, Medfield was forced to watch Milford celebrate another World Series title. 

"If I have to lose to somebody, I don’t mind losing to Milford because they’re a class bunch of boys over there," said Glasheen. "Milford is a great program. They’re a good baseball town."

Glasheen said while falling short of a World Series title for a second straight season "hurt," he was proud of his team and the effort they gave all year. 

"The boys, that’s how we did it all year long," Glasheen said. "We never gave up, we were never out of a game, we came back many times in the past. We fell a couple of runs short but they did a great job."

Medfield loses the best of three series to Milford, 2-1. After winning Game 1, 5-1 on Wednesday, Medfield was shut out Thursday in Game 2, 3-0 and lost Friday's Game 3.

"[Medfield is] a good bunch of boys and we had fun and we had a good ride," said Glasheen.


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