Milton wins third straight state Little League baseball title

MILFORD – Milton may rank just 17th among Delaware towns by population according to the 2010 census, but the Sussex County municipality of less than 3,000 keeps churning out baseball players who win state championships.

Milton dominated Newark National 9-1 at Milford Little League Thursday night to nail down the 11- and 12-year-old Little League state championship in just two games.

Milton, which had never won the state Little League baseball title until 2016, has now captured three in a row while winning eight straight state tournament games. The tournament dates to 1957.

“It’s a special team,” manager Paris Mitchell said. “I don’t know what expectations were when we first started back before districts. But these kids left no doubt who the best team in the state was this year. It’s just a humbling thing to coach those guys because they’re not just great ballplayers, they’re very good kids, too.’’

The only others to win at least three straight have been Middletown-Odessa-Townsend (2007-2009) and Newark National (2011-14).

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“It’s not just the kids. It’s the [parents. It’s the community that makes up the town of Milton,” said Mitchell. “There’s a lot of pride in the Little League there.”

He added that Thursday’s win is the culmination of parents bringing their children out to practices on cold spring nights and other behind-the-scenes efforts that go into “making all this happen.”

Shortstop Gage Joseph began the 13-hit assault with a first-inning solo homer.

“I felt great because it was the first inning and other games my first at-bat I hadn’t done so good and this at-bat I finally hit a home run,” he said.

Four of his teammates hit doubles to back the pitching of Tyler Jacona, who threw a five-hitter and struck out five.

“I had a defense behind me and they can do it,” he said of his teammates’ errorless play. “I was just trying to work my curveball a lot more and make it work and I did it.”

Milton led 2-0 after scoring an unearned run in the second inning. Jace Mitchell’s third-inning RBI double made it 3-1.

A four-run bat-around fourth inning when all the runs came with two outs then left no doubt. It featured Nolan Barry’s RBI single and Noah Wells’ two-run double.

Jacona smacked a two-run single in the fifth.

Only two Delaware teams have reached the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania – Naamans in 2003 and Newark National in 2013.

Milton bids to become the third at the Mid-Atlantic Regionals in Bristol, Connecticut, Aug. 5-11. Milton went 1-2 at regionals each of the last two years.

“The key for us is hitting the ball, because we know we have good pitching, we know we have good defense,” Mitchell said. “ . . .We’re gonna be a tough team to beat.”

Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @kevintresolini.