Boller pitches well in Lincoln loss
BEVERLY, Mass. — The defending New England champion Lincoln Little League 11year-old all-stars have their backs against the wall.
After earning a blowout victory over Vermont champion Barre Wednesday night, Lincoln fell behind by four runs to New Hampshire champion Goffstown Thursday night. Lincoln eventually brought the gamewinning run to the plate in the sixth in Donavon Lopez, but his line drive was snagged by the pitcher and Jayden Champagne was thrown out at first to end a 4-2 defeat in the New England Invitational at the Harry Ball Field.
“We are still right in this,” Lincoln coach Joe Conti said after his side fell to 1-2 in pool play. “Because our pitching has been so good, we have the fewest runs allowed in the tournament. If this plays out and we’re one of three teams with two losses, we’ll win the tiebreaker.”
Outside of Michael Boller, who did a brilliant job in relief of Champagne Thursday, and Joey Conti, Conti has his top-end hurlers available to pitch in Friday’s must-win contest against Massachusetts runner-up Brookline. Lopez, who started Tuesday’s game against undefeated Taunton East, and Will Denio will likely pitch in the game. Conti is slated to start Saturday’s game against Connecticut runnerup Wallingford.
Champagne allowed a run in the first inning and he was replaced in the second by Boller because Conti and assistant coaches Dale O’Dell and Matt Netto believed an offspeed pitcher would fare batter.
“We were right there with them,” Conti said. “Nothing fell in to place timing-wise because every time we had a big hit, no one was on base. Michael Boller pitched great, though. He threw the rest of the game and was great.”