2013 Season

Hi RVaughn,

I still like Trinity's senior Currier and junior Carmen G.  Should have a pretty low era, now let's see if they can hit, right?

To Rvaughn,

As far as pitching goes, I saw lefty, Ryan Britton from Milford High pitch in the Fall Showcase League and his stuff was nasty. I expect Matt Wojciak from Merrimack High to have an awesome year, with a ton of Ks. Junior lefty Anthony Lupi out of Dover High is also someone to watch.  As a sophomore last year, he had an ERA of 0.89 in 39 innings pitched. Obviously a very short list thus far.

I pulled this list of D1 all-state players, their current grade,and school.

1st team: 
Jake Damphouse 11 Timberlane

Matt Fortin 12 North  
Ethan Joyce 12 Exeter  
Nick Reed 12 South  
Matt Wojciak 12 Merrimack 

2nd team:
Jake Cameron 12 Timberlane

Jack Cassidy 12 Londonderry 

Mickey Gasper 11 Merrimack  

Carmen Giampatruzzi 11 Trinity 

Alex Grey 12 Spaulding
Cam Hauze 11 Winn
Ryan Maloney 12 Londonderry

Joe Lemenager 12 Salem
Kyle McCarthy 12 North
Matt Morais 12 BG

3rd team:
Rob Del Signore 11 Londonderry
Pat Emanuelson 12 Alvirne
Cody Ferns 12 Concord
Ben Gareau 12 Winn
Jeff Lunn 12 BG
Mike Ryan 10 Londonderry
Kyle Sewards 12 Dover

Andy LaLonde, Bedford 12:  1st team D2.

Omissions from last lear, whose names I have seen discussed in blogs.

Anthony Lupi 11 Dover

Tom Diskin 10 Pinkerton

Taylor Black 12 Merrimack

There's more than a few pitchers on the list.

Let's add some more names.

New Coaches:

Steve Campo, Pinkerton

Nick Jaskolka, Merrimack

Kyle Harvell, North

Dan Moylan, Keene

That list is fine...and I know this was thread was started to talk about D1 but their are many pitchers in D2 that are on the same level as the names on the list above!  Autrey Gates from Pembroke, Rick Holt from Portsmouth are just a few...Connor Sahlin from Campbell is a flame thrower and Matt Cunningham from Coe Brown is returning from "Tommy John" surgery...I could list another half dozen names that would compete head to head with the D1 list....

Don't forget these arms....

Tyler Barss Goffstown 12, Committed to URI

Taylor Doyle Con-Val 12, Committed to Delta State

Ivon Clough Con-Val 11, 

Tanner Putnam Goffstown 10,

I'm sure there are others in D2, but since the thread was focusing on D1, I focused on those players who made D1 all-state.

Touchy...really?  Guess you can't tell tone from a message on a thread.  One of the replies to the original poster lists all D1 players...I was simply listing a bunch of D2 and D3 guys that are every bit the pitcher as their D1 counterparts...wasn't touchy when I posted it but since you made the observation it is obviously an issue.  My opinion is that many of the Seacoast D2 baseball teams could roll many of the larger NH D1 teams...everyone has an opinion...and that is mine!

There are a lot of quality players that play outside of D1 in NH.  I would add Springfield from Conant as another quality pitcher outside high school D1 who could play in college.  I believe Jeff Locke (Pirates) was a D2 player at Kennett,  My parents saw him pitch in Florida this week, Dad said he looked good.  Jordan Cote (Yankees) was D3 in NH.  Jaques from Somersworth jumped from NH D3 to collegiate Division 1.  Someone mentioned Sahlin from Campbell, quality pitcher. There are good position players in lower divisions too. 

Who cares who is in what division?! Who are the players to watch this year. Where are they committed?

To give equal time, here's a list from the NHHSBCA web-site of returning D2 All-State players.

I was certainly not saying or even implying that any division is better.  Or that D1 has more a players who can go on and play college.

Here's a place to start looking at D2.  Let's add some players who did not get recognized but are certainly capable of appearing in 2013.

Player, Current grade, School.

1st team

Tyler Barss 12, Goffstown

Ryan Britton 11, Milford

Ivon Clough, 11, Con-Val

David Drouin 12, Merrimack Valley

Mitch Frick, 12, Hollis

Autry Gates 12, Pembroke

Rick Holt 12, Portsmouth

Nick Mazza, 12, Kennett

Graham Nyham, 12, Laconia

2nd Team

Dillon Crosby 12, Portsmouth

Logan Danforth 12, Milford

Tim Rencken, 12, Hollis

Grant Wagner 12, Sanborn

3rd team

Gus Connolly 12, Pembroke

Travis Hackett 12, Oyster River

Jeff Peterson, 11, Windham

Cyrus Rothwell-Ferras 12, Hanover

Jake Vaiknoras 11, Pelham

Keep an eye on these guys in 2013

Taylor Doyle 12, Con-Val

Tanner Putnam 10, Goffstown

Pat Viviers, 11, Goffstown

Start adding gentleman.

I guess under that premise, who cares where they are committed, just who is quality.  As far as commitment, I'm pretty sure Gates is committed to St. anselm.  One that also got overlooked who is in D2 (for those who do care) is David Drouin of Merrimack Valley.  Full scholarship commitment to University of Hartford.

One more point on divisions, no matter where you see a thread like this started on whatever website, the D1 guys get their props, I was simply pointing out there is quality in all divisions.

Thanks Mike for keeping the thread positive.

I saw Tyler Barrs pitch last summer for "Show Baseball" out of Lawrence Mass. We were at a tournament in Worcester. A College coach had is last pitch in the 7th inning at 93mph. Barss sits at 91or 92 mph. His curve is a hammer over 80mph. He is nasty, Im not sure you will find anyone better anywhere for sure! From my understanding he had schools like BC, Uconn, Vanderbilt,St Johns etc... all trying to get him. He opted for URI.

My NH Div 1 Picks - (Based purely on what I've seen and what I've heard - take w/grain of salt)

1 - Londonderry - Loaded - Four returning all-state players - Most fall showcase players, including three pitchers.  Del Signore, Corey and Moloney (UMass), who might be the best RHP in the state. Seniors Cassidy/Welch/Moloney - Varsity players since freshman year.

2 - Merrimack - Wojciak overshadowed last year by Hudon, might even be better.  He has a great backstop in Gasper.

3 - Nashua North - Maybe the best player in the state in Fortin (Seton Hall). Kyle McCarthy will need to step up but they too have a good surrounding cast.

4 - Timberlane - Just like Merrimack and Wojciak, Jake Damphouse is another kid who can carry a team.  This team also has excellent coaching.

5 - BG - Always in the mix.  Matt Morais seems to get better every time you see him.  Expect both Morais and Jeff Lunn to be double threats with their pitching and offense.

6 - Trinity - You know Giampatruzzi will do his thing.  He will need help from Currier. Not sure if the offense will be there though.

7 - Exeter - Ethan Joyce - Not sure what else this team has

8 - Concord - Lost quite a few solid players from last year, but always in the mix.

9 - Pinkerton - New coach

10 - Memorial

11 - Spaulding

12 - Winnacunnet

13 - Salem

14 - Alvirne

15 - Dover

16 - Nashua South

17 - Central

18 - Keene

19 - West

West is out & Bedford is in

Thanks Rvaughn - I know Bedford always has a good program. The kid LaLonde is a man-child.  I just don't know anything about their pitching. I know BG took care of them with Morais on the mound.  I would like to know if anyone has anything more on Bedford.

Concord might have an ace in this kid Partridge.  He bettered Giampetruzzi who IMHO threw too many pitches this early in the season.  If 104 pitches in game one is normal, what will be going too far?  High school baseball isn't worth it.  I'm sure coach Piosson thinks he knows this kid, but it's game one.  In a league where 16 out of 19 teams make the playoffs, I don't see any upside of pushing this kid, especially this early in the season. Just my opinion.

Josh Partridge is good. He got knocked around in the Showcase league this fall but I think he is better than that. I agree on the pitch count issue. That is crazy. Hopefully that was an aboration. I thought I heard G may already have a commitment somewhere. I'm sure whatever College it is would not want to hear that.

I dont know how deep Bedford is. I just know they were pretty strong in D2 last year. It sounds like pitching will be an issue this tear for them, we will see.

Partidge is decent, he pitched well in Concord's opener and got the win.  I saw him pitch in a scrimmage earlier this year and he did well.  I think if he's going to pitch effectively in college, he'll need to find a little more velocity.  A kid worth watching this year will be David Drouin at Merrimack Valley.  Very effective right hander with excellent velocity.

G has a BC baseball commitment. I agree it certainly is early to throw 104, but perhaps it's obvious why they're leaning on him...

I think we're going to see a lot more hitting and (hopefully) defense this year in D1.

Watch out for Alvirne and Emanuelson - he's got two monster HR's already this year - one against Central and one against Pinkerton. 

I know it's early but if there is a team of destiny, it just might be Spaulding. I must have missed something here because I didn't think much of them in the pre-season and I know some people disagreed with me on this.  Anyway, shows you how much I know.  First off, they are the only team in Div 1 that have had to play three games so far.  They started with a nail biting one run win over a pretty good Timberlane team and followed that up with another one run win over Keene.  Then the very next day they had to travel an hour and a half to face a very tough Londonderry team.  This was Londonderry's 2nd game so they had the luxury of using their #2 Tom Corey (Who's probably a #1 on most teams who don't have a Ryan Moloney).  Nick Ciampa and Kyle Bernier combined to keep Spaulding in this game only giving up two runs.  Corey definitely lived up to the hype coming within one out of a complete game shutout.  So, in the 7th, Londonderry leading 2-0, two outs and a runner on 1st, Spaulding loaded the bases after some shaky defense and a walk.  Then Anthony DiPrizio hits a base clearing double giving Spaulding the 3-2 lead and eventually the win. Londonderry had opportunities to score many more runs througout this game. They also looked like they may have had some kids out of position after some injuries that led to some errors late, but that should take nothing away from what was a great comeback win for a team on a roll. Look out for Spaulding!

Matt Wojciak from Merrimack has committed to Franklin Pierce.

All commited to play ball:

Ryan Moloney to UMass Amherst

Jake Cassidy to Plymouth State

Jake Welch to Southern Maine

Austin Marino to Keene State

These are committed NH kids.  Taken from the Showcase website:  Welch & Cassidy from Londonderry were also on the list:

Where's the buzz about the season so far?  I'd really like to know about what's going on out there from people watching these games. I've seen a couple of games but have had to read about most of them.  It seems to me that the Spaulding team will need to have a defibrillator standing by for their fans.  They are 4-0, all four wins by one run, most recently a walk off win against Alvirne.  Matt Wojciak took a no hitter into the 7th helping Merrimack beat South 8-1. (15 Ks). Spaulding, BG, Concord, North, all undefeated. Lots of exciting stuff out there.  Who or what hasn't been mentioned?

Some interesting match-ups today.  I wish I could be in a half-dozen places.

Spaulding vs.Pinkerton.  This should be a good one.  (I'm also looking forward to next Monday when Coach Campo's 9 host Coach Jaskolka and the MHS club )

BG vs. Londonderry.  Another good one. I'm not sure of the match-ups Morais vs. Maloney?

Alvirne vs. Timberlane. Both teams looking for their second win.  

Dover vs Merrimack Dover coming off their 1st win yesterday after two 3-1 losses.  Merrimack off their 1st loss.

Goffstown vs. Pembroke.  Two undefeated teams battle in D2.

Good stuff!  What hasn't been mentioned is that Trinity easily should be 4-0 if not for blowing the lead in the top of the 7th against Concord, all unearned runs. Both starters have era's of under .060 and the team has won 3 straight. Errors are minimal now and the team is starting to hit. Carmen struck out 14 vs Salem and Currier struck out 10 vs Dover this past week, each giving up less than 5 hits each. They will be in the top 10 when it's all over and new (playoff) season begins.

The Londonderry - BG game was Tom Corey v. Jeff Lunn

Lunn outdueled him with a 6-5 complete game BG win.  I heard Corey didn't finish - threw a lot of pitches.

Seems baseball people/parents play things a lot closer to the vest w/r/t making comments on public forums.

I think most teams pitching depth will be tested now as Friday should see a bunch of teams throwing their #3.

nhiaa.org has Goffstown losing to Pembroke today... I'm somewhat surprised as G-town has quite a few mashers on that team...

A few interesting games on the schedule, this weekend.  

Spaulding 5-0 @ Trinity 4-1.  Not positive, but I believe Trinity has their ace on the hill.  Spaulding 3.0 Runs Per Game Allowed 2nd best behind Concord. As NastyLefty stated above, this could have been a battle of the undefeated.

South 2-2 @ Timberlane 1-4.  Big game for the Owls.

Exeter 1-1 @ Pinkerton 1-3.  The home team gets back on track?

Memorial 1-3 @ BG 4-0.  BG's 3.5 RPGA 6th best in D1.

Merrimack 3-1 @ Concord 4-0.   Rematch of 2012 Championship.

Souhegan 1-3 @ Con-Val 1-2.  Something has to give.  Doyle on the hill for CV.

Londonderry 2-3 @ Central 0-4.  Londonderry, 3.2 RPGA 4th best in D1, has played in 4 one-run games. 3 of them losses to teams with a combined record of 13-0.  Watch out Green.

Milford 1-3 @ Hollis/Brookline 4-0.  HB only 1.5 RPGA.  Milford coming off 1st win vs. Souhegan. 

Portsmouth 1-1 @ St. Thomas 3-1. Rivalry game.

Pembroke 4-0 @ Hollis/Brookline.  Tomorrow, HB's 4th game of the week could be a battle of the undefeated. 

Don't be surprised about Pembroke beating G-Town...Pembroke is the real deal....the team chemistry is incredible and Coach Coughlin has them firing on all cylinders!

Who is there Clean up Hitter??

Currier!  Though he was able to pitch last season, he is coming off the injury his Junior year when he crashed face first into the outfield fence and was unable to swing the bat all Spring/Summer and lost his recruiting season.

Thanks, Mr. Currier

A bunch of interesting Monday contests.

BG 4-1 @ Alvirne 2-2. Two top teams should see #1's on the hill.  Learn a lot about both teams today.

Trinity 4-2 @ Bedford 2-2.  Bedford well-rested looking for 3rd straight.

Merrimack 3-2 @ Pinkerton 2-3.  Wojciak vs. Herlihy.  Jaskolka vs.Campo.  Let's play 2.

Salem 2-3 @ South 3-2. Interesting match-up. In Salem's 2 wins scored 20 runs.  In the 3 losses only 9. South begins a tough stretch in their schedule, BG, Bedford, Alvirne, North.

North 3-1 @ Timberlane 1-5.  Something tells me the Owl's are due. Three 1-run losses, lots of pre-season hype.  Could be the day. 

Winnacunnet 1-2 @ Spaulding 6-0.  A team of destiny?  I've seen that written.  A perfect start with five 1-run wins, who can disagree. 

Londonderry 3-3 @ Keene 0-4.  Londonerry's 3 losses all 1-run to teams combined 15-1. Keene has been in every game.

Great post Mike.  I agree with all of your assessments. I agree that Timberlane is a sleeping giant.  Not so sure they will wake up against North though.  Londonderry's 3-3 record is also a bit surprising but you make a good point that they've been in every game, and their losses have come against the top three teams. We're all just waiting around for Spaulding to lose some games, but until they do, we have to respect what they've done so far. 

Not that stats always tell the story, but I would love to know some D-1 stats.  Especially pitching stats.  Does anyone know if they are out there?  Not just wins & losses but ERA etc.  I know Londonderry posts theirs on their team website.  Does anyone know if other teams make theirs available?

Interesting day so far...

Winny 6 Spauld 5

Bedford 6 Trinity 5

North 7 Timby 3

Lond 6 Keene 3

Exeter 6 Dover 1

Alvirne 7 BG 3

BG's #1 (Morais) didn't pitch today due to illness.  Went with a JR who started shaky but pitched quite well afterwards.

I've heard Timby's ace may be hurting

Keene does have a win vs. Central (although not on NHIAA)

Doubt you'll see any stats... Books are usually done by students or players and they're not always "accurate".  Also what one team may call an error differs from another who calls it a hit...

I saw the Merrimack / Pinkerton game yesterday. Wojciak pitched well. Herlihy pitched a little better. If the Astros could play a little better defense they could beat anybody. Next up for them is Concord.

North and Exeter completed that 0-0 tie yesterday with Exeter winning 1-0... I read on the granitestatebaseball twitter feed that they played 1 inning and it was over.  Apparently Exeter returned Joyce to the mound and then got a walkoff single in the bottom of the inning. They had beat Dover earlier in the day...  Got a tough rest of the week with Alvirne, Merri, and the BG makeup on Saturday.

Dover surprisingly is 1-5. Not sure what they did to upset the schedule makers as they surely have a lot of tough rides.  They been @BG - twice due to rain, @Central, @Merri, and @North so far with rides to Salem, Keene, Memorial, Bedford, Bellows Fall VT, and Pinky remaining!  Next year those will be home games...

Rvaugh33: Yeah that could describe any HS team - play better defense and you give yourself a chance to win. There's only a handful of pitchers that will strikeout more than 1/2 the lineup.  Gotta make the routine plays and hope to make a few spectacular plays along the way.

Tough loss for Coach Campo and Pinkerton.  I thought they played well for the better part of the game.   It would have been another tough loss for Merrimack especially coming after Friday's 4-3 heartbreaker at Concord.

Herlihy pitched well and went to the mound in the 7th with the 2-1 lead. His official-unofficial line was 6.1 ip, 6 hits 2 runs both earned, 2 bb, 3 k, The two one-out singles off him (I believed he pitched to 3 batters to start the 7th?) were key.  Gerossie comes on and can't nail it down (gives up a walk and a game-tying single), but escapes further damage when Pinkerton turns an F-7 into a double play at the plate. Tie game bottom of the 7th. 

Merrimack's 8th was a single, a sac bunt, an infield single, and an error on another slow roller. Another single.  At the time I didn't think it was a lack of defense.  Maybe the infield roller could have be an out, and the error on the 2nd roller should have been handled.  So, yes, maybe Gerossie should have fared better.

As for Wojciak 5.2 ip, 2 hits, 2 runs both unearned, 6 bb, 12 k. Pinkerton's 6th started innocently enough with 2 strike-outs, but a 4 pitch walk, and a fly ball that was misplayed in the outfield led to Pinkerton taking the lead.

So did Herlihy out-pitch Wojciak as was suggested in a previous post? I'm not sure.  Wojciak's problem was the 6 base-on-balls. Combine that with the 12 K, and it's easy to see why his pitch count climbed.

Overall, I believe it was a well-played high school game.  The official-unofficial line had each team with 1 error.  (See the UL article on Bedford's Victory over Trinity.  Trinity with 4 yesterday now has 25 in 7 games.) The 9 total base-on-balls was more distressing although you could blame the weather.  When I got to my car, the temperature read 30. 

I think both teams will win their share of games.  I know that when we get some warmer temps, I will be a happier fan

PS: Anyone have official times for games on Wednesday or should we assume 4?  Read something about Trinity vs. Central, Gill Stadium at 1:00....