Sports Insider by Frank Coppola: Clippers top Saints in Cooperstown showdown

April 26, 2008

Clippers top Saints in Cooperstown showdown

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Baseball games are often decided by one timely hit, and that’s exactly what Portsmouth High School’s Keegan Pafford delivered Saturday night.

Pafford’s grand slam was part of a five-run fifth inning that carried the Clippers to a 6-5 victory over St. Thomas at the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

“It was a game fitting of its setting,” Portsmouth coach Tim Hopley said. “St. Thomas is good. Very legit. They’re very good.”

St. Thomas scored three runs in the first inning and had a 4-1 lead entering the fifth. The Clippers scored four of their five runs in the fifth after two were out.

The Saints had the tying run on third and the go-ahead run on first in the seventh, but failed to score.

Ben Hart pitched a complete game for Portsmouth, which improved its Class I record to 9-0. Hart allowed eight hits, four earned runs and struck out seven.

“He didn’t have a good breaking ball and they did a good job of waiting on his fastball,” Hopley said.

St. Thomas, which fell to 5-2, received three hits from Mike Hicks and two from Matt McLaughlin. McLaughlin also drove in two runs.

Kevin Bergeron collected two hits to lead the Portsmouth offense.

Posted by Frank Coppola at April 26, 2008 11:44 PM

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