Peabody West wins thriller; World Series bound

BRISTOL, CT – Peabody West’s Matt Hosman got to live every kids backyard dream on Saturday at Breen Field in the New England Regional championship game against Lincoln, RI.Hosman ripped a first pitch fastball from Lincoln reliever Chris LeClaire over the left field fence for a walk-off grand slam homer that gave Peabody an improbable 11-7 win and a trip to the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, PA starting on Friday night (8) against Texas.”You never ever think you’re going to get there,” Hosman said. “And now we’re going. It’s unbelievable.”Hosman’s titanic blast was the last in a game that saw the region’s top two seeds go back and forth in a battle of haymakers. Fortunately for Peabody, it was the home team and had the last chance to respond. That was something that Lincoln manager Dale O’Dell knew was going to be critical.”We would have liked to have been the home team in a game like this,” O’Dell said. “When we lost the flip (Friday) night, I knew that was going to be a big thing ? This one is tough to swallow. And it hurts.”For the first time in 17 games, Peabody was trailing entering its last at bat and was staring elimination squarely in the face for the first time after Lincoln had taken a 7-6 lead in the top of the sixth.Nick Bona got the Peabody sixth going with a base hit to right. First baseman A.J. DiFillipo then stroked a single to left, moving the tying run into scoring position.LeClaire strick out Sean McGrath for the first out but then compounded matters when he walked Matt Gonick on five pitches to put the tying run on third and bringing No. 9 batter Matt Correale to the plate.Correale, who had been excellent in relief of Austin Batchelor, showed tremendous plate discipline to earn another five pitch walk that brought Bona home with the tying run and Peabody’s hottest hitter, who had whiffed in three of his four previous plate appearances, to the plate with a chance to end it.”I knew going up there that we had a chance to win it. And I just wanted to get a hit,” Hosman said.Hosman didn’t wait long to end the drama as he annihilated LeClaire’s first pitch into the trees behind the left field bleachers to begin a wild celebration at the plate.”Those are the things you dream about in your backyard growing up, hitting a homer to go to the world series,” Peabody manager Dave Batchelor said. “I told (Matt) when he went up there that nothing else mattered except the last at bat.”Hosman’s bomb was the exclamation point to a regional final that will go down as one of the best in recent memory.Batchelor worked a perfect top of the first and then opened the scoring with a huge home run to left-center off Lincoln starter Jeff Sheehan to make it 1-0 after one.Neither team scored in the second before the Rhode Island champs showed off their potent offense in the third.Luke Kelly, who was laying in his dormitory bed sick 24 hours previous during Lincoln’s semifinal win, laid down a perfect bunt for a base hit. Jake Petrin then gave his team the lead when he blasted a 2-run homer to right to make it 2-1.Sheehan followed with a single and Sam Brito walked. After a groundout, Tyler Duquette laced a single to center, scoring Sheehan and Brito to make it 4-1 Rhode Island. A hit batsmen and a walk loaded the bases before Batchelor walked Justin Conti to force in another run to make it 5-1.”I told the kids before the game that (Lincoln) was going to score runs,” Batchelor said. “We just had to stay in contact.”Peabody loaded the bases in its half of the third when Batchelor and Traverse Briana singled before a Mike Petrosino walk. Bona then drew another free pass to cut the lead to 5-2 before Sheehan expertly pitched his way out of the jam.Lincoln got that run back in the top of the fourth when Sheehan doubled and later scored on Duquette’s grounder to short. Correale came on to replace Batchelor later in the inning and stranded a pair of runners.Peabody then caught a little bit of 2-out lightning in the bottom of