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....

If you measure a pitcher by keeping the walks down, then sure Herlihy perhaps was better than Wojciak... If you measure a pitcher by number of strikeouts, then it's the other way. Tough call either way.  I personally prefer to not see so many walks. Put the ball in play, keep your defense on their toes and in the game.

Might be interesting to see the Pink book to see what they scored error or hit... I always roll my eyes when I see infield single now... My son's college scorer has a propensity to "err" on the side of the hitter regardless if he's home or away.  I cannot tell you how many times I see "infield single to SS" or "infield bunt single to 3b" in the official line score.  When I'm there watching - I see - error, error, error :-)

As for your question - I can tell you BG/South is at 7PM Wed at Holman.

It is all over the place for game times tomorrow! Here was what I was able to figure out:

Dover at Salem- 11 am

South at BG- 7 pm at Holman

Spaulding at North- 4 pm at Holman (I think, can't be sure)

Trinity at Central- 1 pm at Gill

Memorial at Bedford- 4 pm

A big game to watch tomorrow should be Pembroke vs Portsmouth. It looks like both team aces (Gates for Pembroke, Holt for Portsmouth) will be on the hill as two of the top tier DII teams battle tomorrow. Pembroke is 4-0 while Portsmouth is 3-1 and scoring 41 runs in their last three games since their defeat at Oyster River. It should be a good one!

I went to check out the "team of destiny" yesterday at Spaulding to see what their story is.  I guess they have won 5 of 6 in their last at-bat... tough way to make a living.  And it almost worked again vs. Winni as they were all but dead in a 6-0 bottom 6 game and scored 5 runs courtesy of some typical Winni defense.  Will they be a legitimate threat in the playoffs?  Personally I'm not so sure but winning 6 of 7 is a great start regardless.

The reason I was hoping stats were available was to get an idea of early all-state candidates.  We've heard good things about Lunn, Morais, Fortin, Joyce, Wojciak, Moloney, Cassidy, Carmen G, Partridge, LaLonde, McCarthy, etc. I know there are countless others which is precisely why I was hoping for some posted numbers.

When the coaches vote on all-state, the only information they have, is what other coaches tell them, and the one (or maybe two) times they see the kid play. And if your considering pitchers, most coaches are voting on a kid they didn't see at all.  It's not a perfect system, but there's just no other way to do it.  I don't envy the coaches.

Ironwill,

Thanks for the schedule.  Looks like a chance to see a couple of ball games, and the weather is starting to improve as well.

Seacoast,

I didn't realize until I read something this morning that Spaulding won 5 games in their last AB.  Cardiac kids. And they almost pulled it off again yesterday.  

What does the match-up look like Wednesday at North?

Mike I don't typically follow Spaulding so I don't know who they are throwing vs. North.  I will be watching to see if the losses start to mount for them, especially facing a quality team on the road. On the seacoast I will be curious to see how the Exeter/Alvirne game goes as both teams are capable of beating anyone depending on who is on the mound.  I understand MacHardy is going for Winni so assume the big lefty will have his way with Timberlane in Hampton.  St. Thomas and OR have a rematch in D2 that should be a quality game, STA winning the first meeting.

As Mike said, Im not sure I agree... Herlihy certain was more efficient thereby lasting longer, and put the ball in play for his defense, but gave up more hits and earned runs. Only 1 of Wojciak's  6BB resulted in an (unearned) run. 5 2/3 innings with 12K , 2H, 0ER is tough to argue with. The walks certainly increase his pitch count substantially and decrease his ability as far as going the entire game.

I understand the problems created by the free pass.  A pitcher and a team face a difficult task when the base on balls totals rise.....  Pitch count, pitch count under stress, more pressure on the defense.....nobody can consistently pitch around a base on balls....no matter what level of baseball we are talking about.  So if you are judging if Herlihy was more effective than Wojciak, I think you are going have a lot of room for discussion on both ends.  Those who favor pitching to contact have a point.

Suffice to say both pitched well enough to win...  This just proves why it's so hard to pick an "all star" team in baseball - the point of reference of the voter based on the style they prefer. Speed/strikeout vs. pitch to contact. I've see more velocity pitchers have trouble controlling location than the other way around. Some even have coaches that say - he throws really hard, but has no idea where it's going...  Pitch to contact pitchers have it tough because their "worth" is largely in the hands, gloves, feet, etc. of the 7 players behind them. Still waiting for the day I see a coach call time, walk out to his shortstop and ask him how he's feeling before lifting him for a relief shortstop because he's just made 3 errors in a row.  OTOH a pitcher walks 3 batters in a row and he could be done...

Agree with your's and Mike's last posts completely.

Here's the skinny on D1 today.  Please assist with start times.

Alvirne 3-2 @ Exeter 3-2.   An early season match-up which will prove important a month from now. 4:00 start?

Memorial 2-3 @ Bedford 3-2.  Winners of 3 straight, a solid Bedford team looks to stay in the conversation.  Memorial winners of 2 out of last 3, including upset of then undefeated BG. 4:00 start.

South 3-2 @ BG 4-2. BG has lost 2 out of 3, South 3 out of 4.   7:00 @Holman.  

Concord 5-0 @ Pinkerton 2-4. I'm thinking this will be a good one.

Trinity 4-3 @ Central 0-5.  Trinity, 3 losses by a total of 4 runs.  Central, a 5-4 loser @ Concord, have been outscored 33-4 in their other 4 games.  Will the real green please stand up.  1:00 @ Gill.

Spaulding 6-1 @ North 4-3.  Interesting game.  Fans will learn a lot about both teams.  4:00 Holman?????

Timberlane 1-6 @ Winny 2-2.  Can Timberlane turn it around (outscored  25-6 last three after opening the season losing 3 of 1st four by one run) against a team that has been in every game and is coming off a one-run victory @ Spaulding?

Dover 1-5 @ Salem 3-3. Salem has put up big #s in their 3 wins averaging 10 runs per game.  Averaging 3 rpg in their losses.  Dover Averaging 1.4 rpg in their 5 losses, but don't go to sleep on them.  Is Lupi on the hill?  11:00 start.

IMHO the game of the day is Portsmouth at Pembroke...Pembroke trying to remain perfect on the season against Big Rick Holt and the Portsmouth bats!  Should be a good test for PA!

does anyone know what time the portsmouth/pembroke game is at today?

4:00 first pitch at PA

FYI- I never said out pitched, I said Wojciak pitched well & IMHO Herlihy pitched a little better. To say the walks increased his pitch count & substantially decreased his ability to pitch further into the game is not exactly an argument I would use in his defense. Not that he needs defending as IMHO he pitched well. Im also glad Herlihy pitched Monday & wont be pitching today

You're right my "out-pitched" to describe "pitched a little better" may have been an extreme way to describe a fine line, but, if in a game, you pitch a little better than I do, I would say you out-pitched me.  Although, as discussions have indicated, "a little better" is difficult to define.  That's the beauty of baseball.  

Again, it is a miracle that Merrimack survived with their pitching staff issuing one free pass per inning.

From what I have heard, Pinkerton has a pretty good #1a.  His name escapes me.  Is it Casey?  Is it Partridge's turn for Concord?  I'm standing by my initial statement, this is going to be a good D1 baseball game.

Where to go? To lazy to drive to Pembroke.  Pinkerton vs. Concord? Holman for a double header?  Bedford then Holman?  It's a nice day for a change.  I can't lose.

Another cool story line is that Portsmouth beat PA a few years ago to set the record for consecutive wins....different players...same coaches....PA would love to get that bad taste out of their mouths!

I never said either outpitched the other either, or even believe one pitched better than the other    I just pointed out that both had their pluses and minuses, and since those were so different for each, its tough to compare them directly. There are a lot of young men pitching very well so far this year and its a pleasure to get a chance to see some of them. I tip my cap to all of them. It'll be even better when its not 30deg in the wind!!!

LOL

More great games.  Lunn and BG in extras over South 4-3.  Spaulding might be coming back to earth a little bit with their 2nd straight loss, going down to North 2-1.  Concord remains the only unbeaten team with a 2-1 win over Pinkerton.  Pinkerton's 2-5 record is very misleading.  Other than Spaulding, they've been in every game.  Campo and the Astros might be one of those teams you don't want to face in the playoffs.

Curious about Nasty Lefty's view of this score from yesterday:

Manchester Central 5-2 over Trinity.

It seems as though pitchers are still dominating the scoreboards with many low scoring results.  The cynic wonders is the pitching that good or the hitting that bad

Other than a couple of pitchers, seems as though teams are going to have to win by playing a bit of defense and employing small ball tactics.  South bunted in the top of the 7th yesterday to score a go ahead run. Bunt really wasn't perfect as it went right to the pitcher, but the runner on 3rd had a great jump and scored easily.

To add fuel to the running pitching argument - the Telegraph headline was Lunn outduels South's Gouveia... The article then points out each went 6.1 innings, neither got the win, but both figured in the scoring while at bat.  Gouviea also had a chance in top 8 to plate some runs with bases loaded and 2 outs, but grounded out to 3rd.  Lunn on the other hand scorched the ball with runners from 1st/2nd moving.  The paper says the shot was just out of the reach of Reed - that's a stretch - the ball got to the wall in a hurry and Reed had no chance as it was by him.

Well pitched game by both starters - hate to see either lose.  Errors factored too as South's first runner was initially called out at 3rd on his steal, but the ball had been knocked out of McQuarrie's glove... Without that error, there's probably not a steal of second followed by a single and South's first 2 runs...  Then in the bottom 7, Warneke missed the cutoff at 2B resulting in McQuarrie being able to scamper to 3rd as the ball ended up along the fence in RF near the gate. BG wasted no time in getting a SF to tie the game.

The only lingering question is - who designed South's new uniforms???  Not a fan of them at all... See the pictures in the telegraph article:

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com...01471-457/story.html

Thanks John.

Personally, I think there are a lot of really good pitchers out there in DI this year.  No slight to any other divisions, just I have not been to any of those games. From the 12-15 games I've seen so far around the State, I think that almost every team has at least one ace on the hill who can beat just about anybody on any given day ... depending on which team shows up.  Some of the better pitched games I've seen have come from pitchers who were pitching, and not necessarily throwing. They were not the guys throwing mid 80's. Some are pretty crafty and hard to like like that young kid in Concord.

On that note, the team that played better yesterday in the Central vs Trinity game is the team that came out on top, period. As Mike G. eluded to in his earlier post, looks like the real Green showed up yesterday.  Did not look like a team that was 0-6.  They were making the plays in the field with limited errors (if any) and Dario was stifling Pioneer hitters with his low velocity ... I wasn't keeping his stats or for the Green so I do not know how many hits Trinity had, but I know it was not that many. They did leave the bases loaded and didn't score at least once

Like John said, teams are going to have to win by playing a bit of defense and employing small ball tactics. Once again, Trinity made costly errors (25 in the previous 7 games), and some were mental that transcended into Central runs. Returning the day before from a week long Robotics trip in California, Trinity starter Currier appeared lithargic from the start and his usual command of the plate was definitely off.  Though he only allowed 6 hits in a complete game with 8 K's, he did walk 5 and hit a batter, three of them ended up scoring. There may have been 2 unearned runs there, but like most team's "official" score books, that's open to one's own interpretation, right?. Of Trinity's 4 losses, this was the first loss that they did not lose in the last inning.  Again .... all in all ... it appeared from the start that Central came out to play and Trinity did not.

Oooppps ... I meant "hard to hit" and NOT "hard to like" when referring to the kid from Concord. Sorry.

Great post JohnF.  I want to expand on your comment about the Telegraph's article.  I don't want to beat these people up because it's great anytime these kids can get some exposure through the newspapers.  That said, it amazes me how much they get wrong.  Not just names (which is understandable since they just don't know these kids like the parents and coaches do) but the actual events on the field.  Like the plays you mentioned. 

It also amazes me that these local newspapers and the local news waste their time with national sports.  Just my opinion, but wouldn't it be great if they just focused on local sports only and understood that when we want national sports we have about a trillion other sources to choose from.  Maybe then we could read an article about every high school game in the state, and WMUR could show more High School highlights instead of highlights of David Ortiz hitting a double that ALL OF US SAW ON NESN THE PREVIOUS NIGHT!!! I will now step off my soap box.

rogerw: I agree 110% with you about local vs. national coverage w/ the Telegraph and WMUR. 

<soapbox set=on>

For the last few years I've been going to "other" paper's websites in order to get local sports news.  Fosters, Sentinel, Monitor, SeaCoastOnline, until recently the UnionLeader did a better job with local sports.  Even the LowellSun and EagleTribune had better stories locally.   A couple years ago when the Telegraph started being printed out of Portsmouth they also more or less required local coaches to submit their own game summaries.  If you beat the deadline (I think 9PM) you perhaps got into the paper.  Joe Marchelina seems to be the only guy focused on local coverage.  Tom King (football/hockey) and Gary Fitz (football/basketball) will do local stuff every now and then... I have no idea what Greenwood and Scione have done at the Telegraph for the last few years...

And WMUR - trying to play with the big boys too.  Thankfully for football fans they have Friday Night Lights...  Too bad that doesn't translate into other sports. They also will cover the FisherCats/Monarchs, but jeez I wish they'd do a few more local stories.  Of course I don't stay up until 1130PM any more so I wouldn't be watching "live".  As for the Red Sox - yep - I'd rather watch NESN, ESPN, or Comcast SportsNet.

<soapbox set=off>

In the Nashua area EPSN 900 started doing local coverage every day at 6PM - I was shocked one night while heading out to hear local scores... It was the first day of the season and they were reporting baseball scores and talking lacrosse with Chris Cameron (BG's and NH Tomahawks coach). I think the recent spate of 630PM Sox games has disrupted them, but it was worth a listen.. See:

http://pro.wgam-am.tritonflex....mmon/page.php?id=111

I was at the BG/South Game.Lunn Threw Great as did Joe G. Inf Ump blew 3 calls however, and all went against South. Reed hit an INF single, flat out beat it. BG Coach went out and argued it, got an appeal to HP Ump (?) who then called him out. South coach asked for an explination and was told "His foot didn't come off the bag". 2nd base ump never signaled that he was off the bag, just safe. Never should have been an appeal to begin with. No real arguement back. Awful. South's lack of actual coaches on 1st has cost them three times on Pick offs in the last 5 games (1-4). Frustrating.

BTW....agree completely with South's Uniforms. The pants look like wind/sweat pants. Very little Purple, just all grey, like they are perminantly on the "road".  

I agree with John F. and Nasty Lefty who believe that defense or the lack of it is going to have a say in who is standing on the Delta Dental turf on June 8.  Hopefully the better weather will mean cleaner defensive contests.

Nothing wrong with a well executed squeeze either.  I liked South's use of it last night.  I was expecting it again towards the end of the game but the signal wasn't given.  I have seen and read about more than a few squeeze-plays this season.  Nothing more exciting in the HS game, except maybe a line drive in the gap that may be 3.

There was an offensive play last night that may have cost South the win in regulation.  1st and 3rd...I believe no one out, but could have been one.   Infield back ground ball to short.  Runner on 3rd doesn't break and all BG could get was the force at second.   The run that wasn't.

Reed's infield single was a strange reversal.  From where I was sitting he beat it by a step and 1/2.  They may have appealed to me, but I had a bad angle.  I have also seen a runner called out this season for a head first dive into the plate.  That was strange as well.

I forgot about that 1st/3rd with 1 out where the runner didn't go - I was (pleasantly) surprised.  The SS was playing deep so at that point BG was hoping for the double play and conceding the run if only one out was made.

As for Reed's play at first base - since my son was right there with his foot on the bag I can say without a doubt that he, Reed, and 1B coach thought Reed was out; however, a bunt later in the game with 1B charging, throw to 2B-man covering where the runner was called out - that one each agreed the runner should have been safe. That's a tough call from where the umpire is though in "C".

In B8 - if you bunt the #3 batter with 1st/2nd - you take the bat out of Lunn's hands.  The #3 batter had a tough night facing the lefty, but has hit well against righty's.  South had just put Deluca in, so it's a chance you take I guess. South had already intentionally walked the #2 batter after the leadoff batter doubled on a play where in some eyes Reed was playing too shallow. I may have taken my chances with facing the #5 and #6 batters and not Lunn.

BTW: If the "headfirst dive" was truly a "over" the catcher, then there is a FED rule for that which requires an out being called out [8-4-2(b)(2) "Runners are never required to slide, but if a runner elects to slide, the slide must be legal. (2-32-1,2).  Jumping, hurdling, and leaping are all legal attempts to avoid a fielder as long as the fielder is lying on the ground.  Diving over a fielder is illegal."]

JohnF, that still doesn't explain the first call,and the subsiquent appeal home. Asking the home plate umpire for an out/safe call at first is like asking the Umpire in B position to check a swing. I have no doubt the firstbasemans foot was on the bag. It wasn't a question on the initial call either. Therefore, there was nothing to appeal. 

As far as why the runner didn't break for home on the 1st and third, thats easy, because NO ONE TOLD HIM TO GO.  I would have pitched to the #2 hitter instead of Lunn as well. From my vantage point, Reed was playing straight away, it was simply a well hit ball in the gap, as was the game winner, which he did almost get to (probably where the Telegraph got confused)

I was at the BG game and wanted to chime in as well on that play at first. The appeal was simply if the first baseman had held the bag or not as the umpire had said he thought he did not and that lead to the "safe" call. You can appeal for help on that aspect of the call. As the 1b did hold the bag, and the home ump confirmed that, the base umpire felt the ball beat the runner and made what he felt was the correct call.
I also agree that Reed was playing shallow for that situation, but he has decent speed out there.. 

Ironwill, I completely get that and would wholeheartedly agree IF he had signaled that the first baseman was off the bag from the start. He never did. If he wasn't sure he should have immediately asked the home plate umpire (at least thats how I was taught in B position). But he simply signaled safe. It appearred he was talked into the appeal by the BG coach. Water under the bridge now.....

w/r/t: play at first

Only 2 people "know" what happened and they're not talking (to us). I thought the runner was out at first look, but that's my biased judgement. Some of the plays just prior had some fancy footwork involved in order to maintain contact with the bag, so who knows. Having been in that position before you do sometimes forget to signal off the bag, although your mind may tell you that you did. I've seen (and had) coaches come out and ask about calling something a particular way - you are trained to ask for help. You certainly "hear it" if you don't go for help. The plate umpire can only tell the base umpire in that situation whether the foot remained in contact with the bag or if there was a swipe tag applied that the base umpire didn't have a good look at. As a coach you have to "pick-n-choose" when to go out or not - that particular close play seemed like a good time to go ask. Although going out or arguing every close play doesn't always end well

BTW: It's far worse when you're in "C" and asked to appeal the check swing on the righty batter, but how many times do coaches and catchers ask for it anyway?

Great games today in Div 1. 

Does anyone know who's starting in any of these games?

Exeter at Merrimack

Concord at North

Pinkerton at Salem

Memorial at Trinity

Londonderry at Dover

BG at Winnacunnet

Thanks.

Seems like alot of close games this year. On Friday Merrimack 3-2 over Exeter, North gave Concord it's first loss of the season 4-3, and South over Bedford 5-4.  If you look back at all the scores you'll see a boatload of one run games.  Interesting. 

Some good games today.  Bedford(4-3) at Concord(6-1); North(6-3) at Londonderry(5-3); and Exeter(5-3) at Spaulding(6-2).  Concord should bounce back and take care of Bedford.  I think Partridge goes for them. (not 100% on this)   I think the North-Londonderry is the most intriguing.  I'm pretty sure Moloney goes for Londonderry.  Not sure if McCarthy or Robert will go for North. I'll pick North to win, but my guess is that this game will come down to defense.  It seems like anytime Moloney's pitching, it's a tight low scoring game that comes down someone making a play in the field. Exeter (Joyce) should extend Spaulding's losing streak to 3 games. Again, I'm not 100% on who's pitching in these games.  If I'm wrong, let me know.  Thank you.

w/r/t: North

McCarthy pitched 6+ Friday. Robert relieved him, but suffered some control issues with HBP and walks...  I wouldn't be surprised to see Smith go as he has been quite effective for them.

w/r/t: Exeter

Joyce went 3 on Sat. vs. BG, so he would be available, but I think the Exeter coach seems to trust the rest of his staff too.

w/r/t: Concord/Bedford

This could be a very interesting game.  Bedford is hot right now and Concord had what I'd call a disappointing loss. It'll be interesting to see if they do bounce back.

There's also South/Alvirne today which could be interesting.  Alvirne has a tough week with Londonderry and Trinity.  Could be interesting to see if they pitch Brown today or against Londonderry.

Strange week - many teams seem to have just 2 games.  BG only has 1 in-state game. Trinity only plays once too.

I heard Joyce asked out of the game Saturday after 3 innings complaining about his arm.  He still hasn't given up a run this season, inherited runners included.  Exeter plays their rival Winni at home Friday, may keep him out until then especially if he needs rest.  bosen has given them some good innings, might be his turn today.  Either way I'm picking Exeter to continue Spaulding's slide.  Gareau is going for Winni vs. Merrimack, his first time back on the mound since he gave Spaulding their first loss in a complete game.  Not sure who is going for Merrimack.  Winni needs to figure out how to get more contributions offensively from their first year younger players so they can score more than 5 runs a game if they hope to win vs. better teams.  Dover really seems to be struggling, haven't heard much about their games so far but they need to pick up the pace if they hope to reach the playoffs.

South/Bedford was a nice comback win for South. Soph JJ Dunn started game found himself down 4-0 due to some bad luck, a couple of lasers from the Bedford#3 hitter and a few errors, but pitched well. Reed came in in relief (Last years closer, curiously the first time this year on the mound for some reason) and threw 3 scoreless, and drove in the tying and go ahead runs. Defense looked very sharp.

Possibly Delucca going today against Alvirne and then Gouviea or Penkala vs North on Wed. I would assume McCarthy for North on Wed.

I was going to mention something about Joyce and his arm, but wasn't sure if it was part of a plan by Exeter either.  He certainly didn't seem to be overpowering and then I saw him tugging on the elbow sleeve when he got moved to SS. His FB was quite hittable on Sat, but he got quite a few looking or swinging at air on what I assume was a slider.

Merri would appear to have Wojciak lined up to go vs Winni; however, they also play BG on Thu and they do take great joy in beating BG, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them hold him for that.  I'm sure Mike knows more about the order though...

Is everyone on this thread a HS Baseball Coach?

Seacoast,

What do you have on Gareau, aside from the complete game @ Spaulding?  Right-hander?  Yes, it should be Wojciak for Merrimack, JohnF.  

Joyce is an excellent shortstop, played well in that position Friday at MHS.  

When Seacoast mentioned Winni and runs scored, I started looking at the NHIA website .....Keene 2-5 is the leader in Runs Per Game with approx. 6.3. They put up a couple of big numbers in their two wins.  Following them is 3-4 Alvirne and 4-3 Bedford @ 5.7 RPG.  The next group 4-4 Salem and 5-4 Trinity score about 5.5 RPG.  And then comes a big group at approx. 5 RPG, 6-3 BG, 5-2 Merrimack, 6-2 Spaulding, 5-1 North, 5-3 Londonderry, and 2-4 Winni.  

So then I had to look at the D side.  #1 Londonderry 21 runs in 8 games! Just behind them is 6-1 Concord with 19 in 7 games.  North, Merrimack, and 5-3 Exeter are all about 3 RPG. At this point in the season, I'm not sure what this proves except pitching and defense must be pretty important.  The five teams with the stingiest D, RPGA, are a combined 26-10.   The 3 teams with the highest #s in RPGA are 5-16.

Now this doesn't take into account Earned Runs, but I'm not sure I have that long of a lunch break.

Nasty,

Nah, not everybody, The rest of us are not sure about anything. We just hear and see things, then speculate.  

What I want to know is why are all lefty's nasty?  And they are. Even when they throw like Ted Lilly.

LOL ... good one Mike.  When I created this account, I was a huge Jon Lester fan and went around saying that Jon and Pettite were "Nasty Lefties."  I asked about coaches because there seem to be some pretty articulate responses on here from some obviously experienced people who are watching a lot of these games. I know there are a few on here.

Mike- Gareau is a 3 year starter at second/shortstop for Winni and is their number 2 in the rotation behind MacHardy.  He is a righty and if he is throwing strikes can be effective like he was vs. Spaulding.  Well known on the seacoast- He was a starter on state champion football team and on the boys hoop team and played on Portsmouth Legion team, so very athletic. I heard he might be going to Keene for baseball?

Sounds like an athlete and a player.  I recognized the name.  Should be a good game.

No, But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night

Hahahaha ... I see there are more than coaches on here too.

Yowza - Londonderry 33 North 7 - according to someone at the game 28 Londonderry batters went to the plate in the 23 run 4th inning.  The wheels not only came off the bus, but they're still rolling down Mammoth Rd.

so many crazy scores yesterday.  Never mind the North implosion, but Spaulding shutting out Exeter 10-0 and Dover shutting out Timberlane 13-0?  the best game sounds like Bedford over Concord, need to hear more about that one.  Bedford must be playing some good ball these days as they climb the rankings.

Brown for Alvirne threw a Gem vs South yesterday. A 3 hitter, 4-1 win. 

Wondering if North's issue was it was kind of a "Trap" game for them (Beating Concord Friday, Rivalry game South in front of them....) Whatever the case, they went through 7 or 8 pitchers. Heard one of the parents said no one on the team was focused (probably an understatement given the score....) McCarthy and Robert are fresh for the south game. Gouviea, & Penkala for South. At this point both teams need this game.  

So much for that research yesterday on RPG and RPGA.  Londonderry v. North game skewed everything.  Londonderry moved to the top RPG list and North dropped all the way to the bottom of the RPGA list.   In many ways I would rather lose by four touchdowns than by 1. 

Mike, I think those results show not only how valuable pitching and defense have been this year to almost all the teams, but also just how shallow that pitching depth is on some of them.

I wrote...

{I'll pick North to win, but my guess is that this game will come down to defense.  It seems like anytime Moloney's pitching, it's a tight low scoring game that comes down someone making a play in the field.}

Londonderry-33 North-7  (This is why you NEVER gamble on High School Baseball)

Good Question!

check out the scorebook floating around on Twitter for that game.  The 4th inning must have been 90 minutes long to bat around 3 times.

Interesting that Moloney came back after that inning to finish.  No wonder they were able to get four more runs.  He sat for quite a while. Who does that benefit to bring him back?

Great question Roger...what good can come from a pitcher sitting for an hour and a half waiting to pitch ? It's not like there is any question on the outcome. I would have gotten someone else work who needs it.