Foley helps Milton stay unbeaten with win over Newton North

MILTON — Brian Foley may not have been all that sharp on Wednesday against Newton North, but he was plenty tough.

The Milton junior right-hander escaped major jams with minimal damage in four of his six innings, allowing time for his offense to break the game open late in a 7-1 win at Cunningham Park to keep the Wildcats unbeaten at 7-0 on the season.

“This is a very talented league with great coaching so to be 7-0 in the Bay State (Conference), I don’t think anyone anticipated that happening,” said Milton coach Brendan Morrissey. “With this group, though, it’s a special group that works hard every day, so I’m not surprised by anything that they do.”

After a 1-2-3 first inning, Foley walked five batters over the next two frames, but allowed none of them to score. He was helped by a dart from catcher Shea Donovan to pick a runner off second base in the second inning and left them loaded in the third, getting one of his five strikeouts and a grounder to first to end the threat.

Milton did a better job cashing in early chances against Newton North starter Jack Sokhos-Drude. Graham O’Donnell’s RBI single and an overthrow home built a 2-0 edge in the first, and the Wildcats added single runs in the second and fourth for a 4-0 lead on the Tigers, who are now 4-3 in their first season under James Greeley, successor to North legend Joe Siciiano.

A Griffin Bond blooper just inside the left-field line and a slow roller to second by Johnny Donnellan accounted for the first two hits of the game for the Tigers in the fifth, setting the table for Liam Keblin to drive in the only North run of the game with a solid single to cut it to 4-1. But Foley kept it there, inducing a 4-6-3 double play.

“I got a lot of ground balls. They didn’t really hit the ball hard,” said Foley, who is committed to UMass Lowell. “I had my curveball most of the game, had my fastball at the beginning, and just put it all together and got the outs.”

Milton put it away in the bottom of the sixth with three runs, the big blow a two-run single by Owen McHugh, and Kevin Radley closed it out in relief with a scoreless seventh.

“It’s been great,” said Foley of the unbeaten start. “Everyone has been chipping in, the bench talks the whole time. It’s a team game.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3yy6E6j