HINESBURG — The No. 14 Middlebury Union High School baseball team put a scare into No. 3 seed and defending Division I champion Champlain Valley on Tuesday, but the Redhawks rallied for two runs in the final inning to defeat the Tigers, 5-4.
“We outplayed them all the way through one out in the seventh inning,” said MUHS coach Charlie Messenger.
The Tigers finished at 3-13, while CVU advanced to the quarterfinal round with a 13-4 record.
The Tigers took an early 4-1 lead. In the first inning, David Burt singled home Aaron Smith. After Will Potter doubled home a run for CVU in the first inning, MUHS regained the lead in the second. Smith drew a bases-loaded walk to score the second run, and Taylor Patterson doubled home two more runs.
Meanwhile, Tyler Provencher’s strong pitching held the Redhawks to one run through five innings. He finished by allowing seven hits, walking none, hitting one batter and striking out two. The Tigers backed him with good defense, picking off two runners and doubling a runner off third on a squeeze bunt attempt.
CVU got two runs in the sixth on two singles and a Brad Bissonette triple to make it 4-3. In the seventh, an error, a hit batter, a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly tied the score. With two out, Bissonette’s opposite-field bloop hit plated the game-winner.