OLD TOWN–For the second straight game, The Old Town Coyotes baseball team used a three run inning and a strong pitching performance to get a victory. This time, the runs came in the fourth inning and Ethan Stoddard turned in the solid outing on the mound to lift the Coyotes to a 3-1 victory over Erskine Academy in a class B North semifinal game.
The Eagles took a lead when Luke Peobody started the game with a single, Peobody got moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt from Dylan Presby, and came home on a single from Caleb Barden.
After the first inning, Stoddard turned it on. He struck out two in the second, third, and fourth innings. While Stoddard was doing his thing, Nate Howard was shutting down the Coyotes. That was until the fourth inning. Cole Daniel started the rally with a one out single, Jacob Ketch reached on an error, Austin Sheehan followed with a walk. Howard was replaced by Zack Glidden with the bases loaded. Kaleb Gifford drew a walk that brought home Daniel for the first Old Town run. It looked like the Eagles would get out of the inning with the game tied when TJ Crawford hit a ground ball to second base. Presby fielded the ball and tried to tag Gifford and throw it to first to complete double play. The tag was missed on Gifford, as Crawford was thrown out at first base, Ketch and Sheehan scooted home to give the Coyotes a two run lead.
Stoddard worked around a hit and a walk in the fifth inning. That was the last Eagles serious threat of the contest. Cody Beaudoin was issued a one out walk in the seventh inning, Glidden followed with a shot to right center field. Coyotes centerfielder Crawford tracked down the ball and fired it to first base to double off Beaudoin to end the game and send the Coyotes to their second consecutive regional final.
Stoddard allowed one run on six hits and two walks, while striking out eight in his complete game effort.Hoogterp reached base three times, on two hits and a walk. Old Town (17-1) will play Hermon in the regional final on Wednesday, June 15th at 6:30 p.m. at Mansfield stadium. Erskine finishes the season with a 14-4 record.
