Gallery: Fifth Inning Rally Gives Stoughton High Baseball Win in Regular Season Finale

Hear from seniors Mike Dixon, Pat Jackman and Mike Connelly in a video interview posted in the media gallery of this article.

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Trailing 2-0 Friday afternoon at home, the Stoughton High baseball team rallied with a four-run fifth inning to earn a 4-2 win over Quincy in the regular season finale. 

Playoff-bound Stoughton ends the regular season at 13-7. MIAA state tournament brackets will be released next week.

"Huge win for us," Stoughton coach Mike Armour said. "We knew what was at stake. We're obviously anticipating and hoping for a tournament game in Stoughton so now we just have to wait and see how the chips fall."

Stoughton scored a combined 37 runs in victories over Milford, Brockton and Canton, and it looked like the offense was heating up in time for the playoffs. 
But, the Black Knights were shutout against Lincoln-Sudbury on Wednesday and through the first four innings against Quincy, Stoughton was held without a hit. 

The bats returned in the bottom of the fifth inning. 

Zach Gibb led off the inning with a single, with Brett Hoffman later pinch running for him. One batter later, Pat Jackman singled, and then Jovani Pires singled to load the bases with just one out.

Mike Connelly came up to the plate and singled, scoring Hoffman and Jackman to tie the game 2-2. Some heads up base running from Connelly gave Stoughton the lead for good. 

With Mike Gallagher up at bat, Stoughton pulled off a delayed steal, with Connelly taking second and Pires coming in to score on the throw to give the Black Knights a 3-2 lead. 

Gallagher walked for the third time on the afternoon, and Connelly advanced to third on a passed ball, putting runners at first and third. 

Pat Raeke grounded out to first, scoring Connelly from third, putting Stoughton up 4-2.

When Mike Dixon stepped off the mound after the top of the fifth, Stoughton trailed by two runs, but he returned to pitch the top of the sixth with his team up by two. 

Dixon stayed out of trouble, other than two runs allowed in the third inning, tossing six solid innings, striking out five. 

Sam Werman came on to close the game in the top of the seventh. Quincy loaded the bases against the junior, but Werman got out of the jam, inducing a grounder, which Jake Gibb fielded cleanly at second, tossing the ball to Raeke at first for the third and final out. 

"Just proud of the guys having a little fight," Armour said. "We're off til Monday so it was nice to get a little come from behind win and end the regular season on a positive note before getting down to business and getting ready for the [postseason]."