BOW — Falcons senior Colby Smith can lay down a bunt about as well as any high school baseball player. Maybe better.

A lanky left-handed hitter, he’s perfected both the placement and the force with which to contact the ball. That skill proved decisive in No. 4 Bow’s first-round Division II playoff game against No. 13 Milford on Thursday.

Locked in a scoreless tie in the bottom of the sixth inning, Smith wasted no time, leading off the inning with a bunt so perfect on the third-base side that he couldn’t have rolled it out there any better. He beat it out for a single, and Bow manufactured its offense from there. Brady Lover worked a walk, Jake Reardon bunted the runners to second and third and Dillon Abbate walked to load the bases. Then, Sean Guerrette ripped a ground ball into right field, a play that ultimately drove in three runs after a Milford error. Two batters later, Owen Cray lined a single to right field to add another insurance run, and the Falcons were on their way to a 4-0 win.

It all started with that bunt.

“Colby has worked hard at that,” head coach Ben Forbes said. “Because of that, he’s elevated himself up into high in the lineup. He’s been our two guy for a long time now because if we can get (Owen) Webber on and move him over, then we’re in a good spot for the middle of the order guys to get him in.”

Bow was in position to win the game in large part because of junior Nate Kiah’s performance on the mound. He carried a perfect game into the fifth and a no-hitter into the seventh, ultimately finishing off a complete-game shutout, allowing just two hits and no walks, while striking out 12.

“Nate threw fantastic,” Forbes said. “He didn’t go deep into a lot of counts. … His stamina was good today. I think he was under 80 pitches, close to 80, which was his highest pitch count of the year.

“I would say definitely his ability to change speeds and keep his pitch count down (was key).”

In a game between a No. 4 seed and a No. 13 seed, perhaps the lengthy scoreless tie only served to put added pressure on the Falcons. But they were eventually able to overcome that, generating enough offense to win the game and keep their season alive. 

“They know they can do it. And they have a tendency to do that. It’s not like one an inning, one an inning, one an inning, it’s like boom. The big inning,” Forbes said. “They knew they could do it. I’m glad they were able to pull it off.”