Dartmouth baseball knocks out Milton in postseason play

Jun 8, 2018

A late start to the game didn’t stop the Dartmouth High Indians from beating the Milton High Wildcats 5-2, advancing the team to the next round of the Div. 2 South baseball tournament.

Thursday's game got off to two scoreless innings before the Wildcats scored two runs in the top of the third inning after an error on the field and two walks. However, it wasn’t long before the Indians stepped up.

In the bottom of the third, Ben Aaronson hit a three-run double, putting the Indians up 3-2. With runners at first and second base in the bottom of the fifth inning, Luke Tisdelle's hit allowed for one more run, putting the Indians ahead 4-2. Ethan Moniz topped off the night and the final score after hitting Tisdelle to home.

The win comes after a grueling practice season, which saw the boys inside for the first few weeks due to cold and wet weather. Once the season began, so did more practices, including meeting at 5:30 a.m. some days and staying as late as 9 p.m. on others. It was all in preparation for postseason play.

“We tell these guys all the time and at one point I pulled them in - the team that makes the most plays from this point on is going to win the game, and we did, we executed, we made plays,” Head Coach Mike Frates said. “The kids take all the credit.”

One of those kids was pitcher Bret Abreu, who Frates described as gutsy and an overall competitor. For Abreu, although he remained focused on the mound by trusting his defense, he gave most of the credit to catcher Eric Sylvia for making good calls.

“I just went into it throwing strikes and I relied on my defense so much and I have so much confidence in them,” Abreu said. “That’s all I was looking to do. Me and Eric [Sylvia] were able to get ahead of hitters and he called a great game today and owe this one to him.”

Frates said he’ll let the team enjoy the win for the night, but when teammates get back to practice, they’ll be working on everything from defense to situational offense plays.

The Indians are scheduled to play 12th ranked Plymouth South on Monday at home. The game starts at 4 p.m. Dartmouth High School is located at 555 Bakerville Road.