ADDISON COUNTY — In first-round high school baseball playoff action on Tuesday Otter Valley, Middlebury and Vergennes all picked up victories.
Mount Abraham (5-11) earned the No. 12 seed in Division II and was set to visit No. 5 Fair Haven on Wednesday. The winner of that game was set to advance to a Saturday afternoon quarterfinal.
OTTERS
OV, the No. 3 seed in D-II, began its defense of the division title by cruising past visiting No. 14 seed Milton, 7-1. Josh Beayon earned the win with five innings of no-hit, 11-strikeout pitching, and Marcus McCullough allowed two singles and an unearned run in two relief innings.
Leading by 3-0 in the fifth, the Otters broke the game open on a Jack Adams RBI triple, a Nate Hudson single and a Beayon double to make it 6-0. Reilly Shannon contributed two hits and two runs to the OV attack, Patrick McKeighan doubled and scored, Kollin Bissette drilled two RBI singles, and Payson Williams singled in a run.
The 13-4 Otters are set to host No. 6 Lake Region (10-4) on Friday at 4:30 p.m. Milton finished at 2-14.
TIGERS
The Tigers, No. 11 in D-I, pulled off their second straight upset of No. 6 Spaulding (11-6) to advance, this time by 5-4. Wyatt Cameron tossed a complete-game six-hitter to earn the pitching win and also keyed the attack with a double and single. Sean Deering tripled and scored on a passed ball for an early Tiger run.
Coach Charlie Messenger said the Tigers made three fine defensive plays in the seventh to protect the one-run lead, by Hale Hescock at shortstop, Aaron Larocque in left field and Devon Kearns at second base.
This past Saturday the Tigers had rallied for four runs in the sixth to defeat Spaulding, 5-3, in their regular season finale. Jack Waterman’s three-run double keyed the rally, which made a winner of Hescock, the starting pitcher. Skyeler Devlin tossed two scoreless innings for the save, and Larocque and Jordy Stearns added two hits apiece. The victory gave the Tigers a tie with the Tide for the Lake Division championship.
The 11-6 Tigers are set to visit No. 3 Colchester (14-3) in a Friday quarterfinal.
COMMODORES
The No. 9 Commodores knocked off No. 8 Fairfax, 6-1, behind Ethan Bissonette’s complete-game four-hitter. Thomas Richards led the offense with two doubles and two RBIs as the 6-10 Commodores avenged two regular-season losses to the 6-11 Bullets.
VUHS is next set for a Friday afternoon date at top-seeded Windsor (12-4).