Solid pitching and timely hitting have been trademarks of the 2010 DHS baseball team; they got both on Monday night when they beat No. 7 seeded Milton High School at Murphy Field to advance to the semifinals of the MIAA Division II South Sectionals on Wednesday afternoon.

The No. 2 seeded Dragons (18-2) knew it wouldn’t be an easy game when you play any Bay State League opponent, but it sure looked like they were on their way to a rout with four runs in the bottom of the second inning for a 4-0 lead.

Senior Pat McWilliams stepped to the plate to lead off the second and blasted a home run 380 feet to right center field to give the Dragons a 1-0 lead.

After Steve Blout singled and Connor Inglis reached base on an error with one out, junior Pat Sweeney came up to face Milton pitcher Will Archibald. It didn’t take long for Sweeney to figure out the Wildcat right-hander, as he took the senior over the left field fence for a three-run homer and what looked like a comfortable 4-0 lead.

Jeff Blout opened the top of the third with a streak of wildness, walking the first two batters and watching as his infield misplayed a potential double-play ball. After striking out the next batter, a fielder’s choice brought home a run and kept the bases loaded. A double brought home a pair of runs to cut the lead to 4-3, leaving a man on third with one out.

The next batter flied to right field where Greg O’Neal caught the ball and fired to cut-off man Steve Blout, who turned and fired to catcher Joe Coyne, who tagged the runner as he crossed the plate to end the rally and preserve the Duxbury win.

Jeff Blout retired the next seven batters over three innings and surrendered just a single in the sixth while maintaining his 4-3 lead entering the seventh inning.

Things were looking good with the bottom of the order coming up for the Wildcats, but a single and an error had the winning runs on base with no outs. Blout bore down and induced two infield pop-ups to third base, before fielding a dribbler and throwing to first for the final out of the game.

Blout allowed the Wildcats just four hits and struck out seven, while Tom Kazanowski was the only Dragon with two hits.

“Records can be deceiving and the Wildcats came out of a very tough Bay State League with a 13-7 record and a pair of non-league games with Bridgewater-Raynham,” said Coach Barney Earle. “They are a solid team and they had a good pitcher who had one bad inning. We came up with some big hits and Jeff Blout bore down in the final inning and got us out of it.”

On Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m. in Braintree, the Dragons will take on No. 3 seed Greater New Bedford (17-2) in the semifinals, with the winner taking on the winner of Plymouth North/Dighton-Rehobeth in the South Sectional finals.