QUINCY, Mass. — Portland Manager Ian Boyle waxed philosophical after Quincy ousted his team Monday in the New England Babe Ruth Regional Tournament.

“I’m sure the kids are a little disappointed,” Boyle said after Quincy prevailed, 11-1, in the double-elimination tournament. “But I always tell them you win with pride and you lose with pride and you leave everything on the field.

“As long as you try your hardest and give it 100 percent and they beat you all you can do is tip your cap. That’s part of baseball. I think with they’re being at a young age, losing is a big part of playing sports. How you handle yourself after you lose is a big part.

“I think they all handled themselves very well,” Boyle continued. “We were lucky enough in that this was our second year in a row coming down here. They kind of tasted it last year and went two and out. To come down here and get a win, they’ll remember that forever. They’ll be able to tell their kids ‘I went down to a regional tournament and we won our first game.”‘

Unlike in its 2-1 victory over Rhode Island state champion Coventry last Friday, Portland’s pitching and defense came up short.

Portland committed two costly errors which helped Quincy score six unearned runs. And starting pitcher Sam Luebbert lasted only 31/3 innings after he was tagged for seven hits and nine runs (five unearned).

“It is tough to come back from behind, especially in the tournament where all the teams are very skilled,” Boyle said. “But we had opportunities where we could have gotten back in (the game) but the ball didn’t fall our way today.”

Portland, in fact, had an opportunity in the first inning when Travis Godbout drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a passed ball. But Quincy starter Aaron Clancy retired the next three batters.

Portland scored its lone run in the third. Godbout singled with one out and, after Bill Barloc singled, center fielder Colin Evans misplayed the ball for an error which allowed Godbout to score all the way from first base.

Quincy, however, scored four runs in the top of the third which produced a lead it would not relinquish.

The only hits in the inning were singles by Eddie Riley and Sean Holleran (which was good for an RBI).

Quincy broke the game open during a six-run fourth as it raked Portland pitching for eight hits, including an RBI single by Evans, a two-run single by Riley and an RBI double by Clancy.

One of two bright spots for Portland was the relief pitching of Nick Carmichael, who worked the last three innings and allowed only one run on three hits with no walks and three strikeouts.

“The game could have gotten really ugly but Nicholas came in and shut them down for three innings, so that was big,” Boyle said.

Boyle also singled out the play of Godbout who was converted to a catcher for the tournament.

“Before the All-Stars, Travis never had caught a game before,” Boyle said. “We came into this tournament and I said ‘We really don’t have a catcher so it’s going to be you.’

“At first, he was kind of like ‘I don’t really want to catch.’ But he said if the team needs me to catch I’ll do that. And I think he hit the ball the best for us. Even when he made outs, they were loud outs. He hit the ball hard.”

 

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