LIVE UPDATES: Middleboro Little League vs. Concord in win-or-go-home game at Regionals
BRISTOL, CT – The Middleboro Little League team has responded to the tallest stakes with impressive performances all summer long.
Now with its back against the wall in the New England Regionals tournament, Middleboro will need one of its most clutch showings to-date in order to survive Wednesday afternoon's matchup with Concord, New Hampshire at 1:00 p.m. on ESPN.
A win would advance the team to the tournament title game against Bangor East, Maine on Thursday at 5 p.m. with a ticket to the upcoming Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania on the line. A loss would send Middleboro home.
“We’re going to go right at them. We’ve got some good arms ready to go and hopefully our bats are fired up," team manager Chad Gillpatrick said after the teams' 10-4 loss to Bangor East on Monday. "We faced (Concord last weekend) – I think they used their No. 1 and No. 2 pitchers, I don’t know what they have left. We’ll battle back. I told the boys at the end, this is only our second loss and this is probably only the fourth game of the summer that we’ve been playing from behind. It’s not going to be easy from here on out."
Middleboro played Concord in the opening round of the tournament this past weekend and a clutch home run from Gavin Gillpatrick in the sixth inning delivered the team a 1-0 win.
The stage for a rematch is set.
Unable to catch the action? This page is home of all the updates you need to keep up with what the Middleboro Little League is up to during its matchup with Concord, New Hampshire on Wednesday.
FINAL
Middleboro def. Concord, 11-0, in five innings at A. Bartlett Giamatti Little League Leadership Training Center on Wednesday to advance to the tournament title game against Bangor East on Thursday at 5:00 p.m. on ESPN.
Fifth Inning
Middleboro 11, Concord 0.
Jayden Murphy launched a triple to the track in right field to come one single away from the cycle. Gavin Gillpatrick then crushes a two-run home run to center field to force mercy rule.
Fourth Inning
Middleboro 8, Concord 0.
An RBI from Jayden Murphy cruises into left field, scoring Jacob Landers from second. Mike Marzelli then skies a sac fly to bring in Murphy to score from third. Gavin Gillpatrick and Ayden Morris hit consecutive ground-rule doubles.
The Middleboro offense has 11 hits so far.
Shortstop Henry Thresher registers Concord's first hit of the day, but three more strikeouts from Gavin Gillpatrick keep any sort of trouble away.
Third Inning
Middleboro 5, Concord 0.
The Concord lineup is still scoreless, as Gavin Gillpatrick ups his strikeout total to seven.
Second Inning
Middleboro 5, Concord 0.
Cayden Ellis and Luke Bolduc reached base on consecutive base hits to start the inning and Jacob Landers followed with another along the third base line to score Ellis from second.
Mike Marzelli then blasted a double to left field, scoring Bolduc from second and Gavin Gillpatrick emptied the bases with a 2-RBI double. The Middleboro offense has eight hits so far.
The Concord lineup is quiet so far, as Gavin Gillpatrick struck out the side.
First Inning
Middleboro 1, Concord 0.
After lead-off hitter Jayden Murphy crushed a solo home run to left field to give Middleboro an early 1-0 lead, both Mike Marzelli and Gavin Gillpatrick reached base on back-to-back singles.
Middleboro's Gavin Gillpatrick uses eight pitches to earn one strikeout and two pop-ups as the top three batters in Concord's lineup go down in order.
LINEUPS
Middleboro
No. 99 Jayden Murphy, SS
No. 11 Mike Marzelli, 2B
No. 50 Gavin Gillpatrick, P
No. 13 Ayden Morris, 1B
No. 23 Aaron Davis, LF
No. 33 Reece Trottier, RF
No. 13 Cayden Ellis, CF
No. 20 Luke Bolduc, 3B
No. 27 Jacob Landers, C
Substitutes: No. 1 Nathan Mello, No. 8 Shawn Miller and No. 40 Joe Monteforte
Concord
No. 12 Rhys Craigue, CF
No. 23 Henry Thresher, SS
No. 27 Jacob Plodzik, RF
No. 8 Andrew Mercier, LF
No. 17 Nolan Walsh, P
No. 9 Will Simms, 1B
No. 97 Finn Gfroerer, 3B
No. 29 Tyler Peterson, C
No. 3 Chase Connor, 2B
Substitutes: No. 1 Ajay Landry, No. 4 Anthony LaTorra, No. 10 Caden Bechtold and No. 11 Wes Bailey
PITCHING MATCHUP
No. 50 Gavin Gillpatrick (Middleboro) vs. No. 17 Nolan Walsh (Concord).
TOURNAMENT BRACKET
Saturday, August 6. Opening Round
Game 1: Bangor East (Maine) 3, Brattleboro (Vermont) 0. Bangor East pitcher Jacoby Harvey struck out 14 batters in the team's combined no-hitter.
Game 2: Middleboro 1, Concord (New Hampshire) 0. Gavin Gillpatrick's home run in the sixth inning put Middleboro ahead late. Right-hander Jayden Murphy pitched a shutout in 5 1/3 innings of work.
Sunday, August 7
Elimination bracket -- Game 3: Concord 2, Brattleboro 0. An RBI single from Finn Gfroerer handed Concord the lead in the fourth inning. After suffering its second loss of the tournament, Brattleboro was eliminated.
Monday, August 8
Winner's bracket -- Game 4: Bangor East 10, Middleboro 4. Hits from Jayden Murphy, Gavin Gillpatrick and Ayden Morris in the sixth inning give the Middleboro offense some momentum heading into Wednesday's rematch with Concord.
Wednesday, August 10
Elimination Bracket Final -- Game 5: Middleboro vs. Concord, 1:00 p.m. (Winner advances to championship game) on ESPN.
Thursday, August 11
Championship game -- Game 6: Bangor East vs. Winner of Game 5, 5:00 p.m. (Champion advances to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA) on ESPN.
This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: LIVE UPDATE: Middleboro Little League vs. Concord at Regionals tourney
