Baseball
South Portland 1
Massabesic 0
South Portland pitching let up just one run in eight innings Monday, but it was one run too much, as the Red Riots were bounced from the playoffs, 1-0, at Massabesic.
Mustangs (9-6) pitcher Shawn Hall gave up a single hit and one walk in the contest, while striking out eight. He and his teammates put runners on in all but two innings.
“Massabesic was putting the pressure on us the last three or four innings,” said Riots coach Tony DiBiase, “so eventually they were going to find a hole.”
That hole emerged in the first extra inning, when Ryan Knight, who was hit by a pitch, scored from second on his brother, Jordan’s, bloop single.
DiBiase noted that it was the fifth year in a row that South Portland (6-10) was eliminated from the postseason in extra innings.
Riots starter Josh Garneau threw 6 1/3 innings, giving up seven hits, but keeping the hosts off the scoreboard in that span. His relief, Jon Virgilio, allowed only one hit in 1 1/3, but walked two and hit one.
Hall was masterful, throwing just 90 pitches and keeping his opponents off balance all game.
“You got to give credit to Hall,” DiBiase said. “Only one walk, not a lot of hard hits, not a lot of loud outs.”
South Portland’s Jon Carey reached base via an error in the first and singled in the sixth, and Will Furbush walked his way on in third, but other than that the Riots’ base paths were clear, and Hall set down 14 of the last 15 he faced.
“With the days off I was able to throw a lot harder than I usually do,” Hall said. “I hit my spots. I usually give up one bad inning, but that didn’t happen.”
Ryan Knight was hit by a pitch with one out in the eighth. After striking out Quentin Loe with a change-up, Virgilio walked Craig Foss. With two on and two out, sophomore Jordan Knight stepped in.
His teammates had made several hard outs in the game, but Knight’s little flare did the trick, falling just beyond the dive of Carey, the second baseman. The older Knight scored easily.
“I thought our kids battled and hung in there, though we didn’t put much pressure on Hall,” said DiBiase. “We’re very young, one senior. We’re just happy to get a little taste of the playoffs. We’ll see what happens next year with everybody back.”
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