DALTON, Mass. – Will Grega struck out nine and allowed just one hit Saturday in pitching the unbeaten Great Barrington Millers to within one one of their third straight Berkshire Adult Baseball League 20-and-over Division Championship.

 

League batting champion Alex Salazar went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and the Millers scored five times in the top of the seventh to put away a 7-0 win over the Berkshire Thunder in the first game of their best-of-three title series.

 

The teams will meet again at 10 a.m. Sunday at Memorial Field in Great Barrington. If the Thunder pulls out a win, the teams will play again for all the marbles at about 1 p.m.

 

On Saturday, the Millers took the lead with two unearned runs against Berkshire’s Jake Barbarotta as he and Grega locked horns in a pitchers’ duel for six innings.

 

An error in the top of the third allowed Abdiel Cotto to score from third and give the Millers a 1-0 lead.

 

In the fifth, a pair of errors extended the inning to allow Brian Rodriguez to put a single in right field and bring home Chance O'Niel, who had reached on a one-out single.

 

The Thunder ended up with five errors in the game, putting extra strain on Barbarotta, who ended up departing with one out during the Millers’ seventh-inning rally.

 

Before that, he was brilliant, including picking up a strike out with the bases loaded to end the inning in the top of the fourth.

 

But Grega was better, not allowing a base runner until Cam Hilliard worked a leadoff walk in the bottom of the sixth and not giving up a base hit until Joe Bateman’s leadoff single in the seventh.

 

Grega also got a big defensive lift in the fifth, when Barbarotta ripped a line drive that looked sure to spoil the no-hitter, but Cotto made a diving grab to spear the ball and keep hopes alive for a no-no for a couple more innings.

 

The Thunder went to the seventh down 2-0 knowing it would start the bottom of the inning with the top of its lineup.

 

But the Millers squashed all hope with a five-run rally that started when Austin Cancilla led off with an infield single.

 

After the Thunder got an out, Salazar and Brian Rodriguez delivered back-to-back singles, pushing the margin to 4-0. A walk and a single from Colby Rueger brought about Barbarotta’s departure, down, 5-0.

 

Zach Redlund drove in a run with a single, and Cotto finished the rally with a sacrifice fly.

 

Bateman led off the bottom of the seventh with a single down the left-field line and moved up on an errant pickoff throw. But then he was picked off trying to steal third base. With the bases empty, Grega got a ground ball to the left side and a called third strike to end the game.

 

Photos from this game to come.