2014 Season New Hampshire Season

Londonderry hit solidly again with 10 hits and 14 runs against Concord High School.  Robbie Del Signore threw all five innings and was dominating striking out 10 and allowing only one earned run.  The other run scored by Concord was on an error by one of the infielders.  This team is really starting to put it together and with power pitching from Del Signore and Corey they're going to be tough to beat this year.

Does anyone know who pitched in the Goffstown/Conval game yesterday?  I was thinking Tanner Putman and Ivon Clough were going to square off but the high score has me doubting that was the case.

I believe Chris Hood from Goffstown pitched a complete game.

Steve,

 

Tanner Putnam threw for Goffstown, but Ivon Clough did not throw for Con-Val.  Hollis might get him on Wednesday.  Who's on the hill for H/B?

I'm assuming Cam LaFleur will be throwing, Hollis had 3 different pitchers pitch in yesterday's game.

Congrats go to North for a rare double yesterday...  From the Nashua Telegraph...

 

In the Varsity game Zack Smith threw a no hitter in a 14-0 win over Winnacunnet

 

In the JV game, Sam McCarthy also had a no hitter, striking out 19 and walking 4.

Yes, Cam will be going for Hollis Brookline tomorrow.  Should be a good match up unless one of the team's implode defensively or something.

Ok, so most teams are almost 25% into their season. It doesn't seem to be to many surprises. A few of my observations are:

Central started off strong but have lost 3 straight. 7 of their next 8 are against teams in the upper half of the division.

Merrimack - I knew they would feel the loss of their seniors last year but did not expect them to struggle as bad as they are. They play the Astros next and that is no easy game

BG - I thought they would drop down a level but seem to be able to find a way to win games. Big win against Londonderry who kicked our # 1 around pretty easily.

Alvirne- a lot of hype this year. Still time to turn it around.

Trinity- their big guy pitched well in the opener against our guys but the will need more to contribute if they want to win games

Rvaughn, it is still real early.  I haven't even put my winter coat away.

 

Let's look at Central. I feel the 5-game sampling does not define them. Their 3 losses in a row do not concern me, since the winning teams, Dover, Exeter, and Keene have a combined record of 11-2.  (59 runs for-28 runs against) Their three upcoming Londonderry, Timberlane, and Pinkerton will paint a clearer picture. 

 

 

Merrimack's 1st 2 losses @ Dover (4-0) and @ Timberlane (3-1) by a total of 3 runs are disappointing for a young inexperienced team, but not the end of the world. For the most part they were OK.  Following those losses with a 6-1 victory @ Bedford was what the doctor ordered.  No getting around it, the home opening loss to South was distressing, when considering that South had lost its 1st three by a combined score of 27-4.  With 2 more road games @ Exter and @ Winny, and a home contest with a very good Pinkerton club on the horizon, the maturity will be tested.  

 

BG is getting some pitching, having given up only 8 in 5 games.  Playing their 4th game in five days tomorrow @ winless Memorial, who have scored 27 while give up 30 against teams combined 10-4, may be interesting.

 

Big one taking place right now with Alvirne 0-3 hosting Timberlane.  Broncos also have a home contest with BG, and road trips @ Exeter and Keene.  We will see where they stand when that smoke clears.

 

Trinity is 1-3 coming off their first win yesterday 5-4 vs. South.  They take a trip to Spauding tomorrow.  See if they can get a winning streak going.  

 

 

 

BG will have pitching - Ferlan, Williams, and Burbank are all solid with varsity (and SR Legion) experience.  As with any team hitting against varsity pitching is harder.  Yesterday's game against Londonderry was a nice win, but I wouldn't say it was shocking. Consider how Londonderry beat North last year - sometimes it's just your day. Game was played at BG because Holman infield was too wet.  BG didn't face DelSignore or Corey. Sophomore Musto started and had command issues (it was VERY windy) - so there were lots of walks and when the ball was hit in the infield a few errors that didn't help. Couple of great plays at 3B by Corey helped quite a bit. I believe Kayo followed, but he too had some command issues, but was able to throw outs.  BG had 4 hits - 2 of them grand slam's.  The second granny was by a former Londonderry player/catcher - Joe Meli - that was absolutely blasted to LF - a majestic shot.  That had to feel good for him all things considered (he caught in Londonderry as a Freshman).  The first granny was a line drive by DiPisquale between CF & RF that was well struck - the ball ended up rolling into the lacrosse/football field - it would have been a double at Holman.  Londonderry had 1 hit - a very solid double by Joncas to LF. Jason had 5K's, 4 BB's, 2 HBP, and 1 double play behind him in 5 innings - so the defense did their job. The lone Londonderry run came in the first on a 1st/3rd where the out was taken for the runner in a rundown.

 

Tomorrow vs. Memorial should be interesting - I see Memorial can hit non #1 pitching, which they'll see tomorrow.  They struggled vs. Londonderry's #1, but came back vs. other pitchers. The question is - who will BG see on the mound?  Gill is a place where you put the ball in play and hope it gets by into a gap somewhere for "serious rollage".  What you don't want is getting loft on the ball because some outfielder will (hopefully) catch it.

Salem 2 - Winnicunnet 1.  watched a very well pitched, well played game today between Salem and Winni, both playing only their third game of the young season.  The wind gusts were brutal, but it didn't seem to bother either starter.  MacHardy was dominant for Winni, striking out the side in the first, second and third innings en route to 11 over his 5 innings.  After getting touched up in the first for a run, the Salem pitcher settled down and was also very effective as he managed a complete game.  Two errors in the bottom on the 7th (Salem was the home team though the game was in Hampton) led to the winning run for Salem.  Tough loss for Winni as they need to win MacHardy's starts but run support is lacking so far as most of the lineup tries to get on track.  Winni has Concord tomorrow, the game being played in Cooperstown, NY at Doubleday Field.

50 degrees and light clouds in Cooperstown.  Looking forward to a great game.

Any other good mat hips today?

Matchups!!! Auto correct is killing me!

Our HS team played in Cooperstown 2 years ago.  It's fun and a good experience for the kids.

Some good games tomorrow.

Keene / Londonderry - looks like the showcase game of the day. I would like to see this one.

Dover/ Exeter- the defending champs have been very up & down this year while Dover has yet to lose.

Merrimack/ Pinkerton- I think I will make my way to this game since we have the Astros on Wednesday .  Merrimack has had their way with the Astro's lately but the Astros have played well so far this year.

Alvirne/ BG- depending on who is starting for the Broncos. If it's Brown it could be a game

Kudos to Winni Coach Liebenow for prioritizing his pitcher's well-being at the possible expense of a loss.  As I read many accounts of extremely high pitch counts on this thread, especially this early in the year with the weather we have had, I give props to the coach for limiting MacHardy's pitch count so far to under 90 per start and for giving him a full 5+ days rest between outings.  Last week against Salem in a tie game that Winni needed to win he pulled the big lefty after 5, even though the kid had 11 K's and had surrendered only 2 hits and a couple of walks.  Winni went on to lose that game and it will probably hurt come tourney time, but I admire the way he fought the natural urge to ride his ace at all costs.

I haven't seen them play yet, but word on the street is that Dover is the real deal.  They are getting good pitching from multiple guys, and the defense and offense are backing them up.  And while I haven't seen Mundy pitch yet for Exeter, he is off to a great start and has the defending champs in position to be a factor later in the season.  I will get to see Spaulding play today and am interested to learn if they are a middle of the pack team or something better.  With North, Exeter and Dover up next for them it will be a good measuring stick at the midpoint of the season.

As far as the Winni Coach goes it may have had more to do with the fact that his own AD turned him into the NHIAA last year for violating the rest requirements last year causing a forfeit.

Liebenow was rightfully roasted on this site last year after not understanding the rules and using an illegal pitching substitution in the key final game vs. Pinkerton that cost Winni the playoff tiebreaker.  One would think that he might try to win at all costs to make up for that mistake but so far, at least, not at the expense wearing out his pitchers.  On a related note, I heard Jake Damphouse is now out for the year at Timberlane and headed for possible Tommy John surgery?  Hope that's not the case, I liked to watch him pitch and he was listed to go to a solid D3 program in the fall.

 

ouch - if true, tough to hear for Jake. Hopefully all goes well for him

 

Yesterday, Tyler Brown did indeed pitch vs. BG and he threw well limiting BG to 3 hits - all with 2 outs in an inning. Not overpowering, but did what he had to do.  Hard luck loser for BG was Andy Williams who pitched well, but it's the little things that hurt.  Alvirne scored in top first with 2 outs - hbp by Williams on Brown... Single... and another single on a hit'n'run.    Then in the 6th an overthrow, walk, bunt single loaded 'em up...  Wild pitch and another single gets a 3-0 lead/win.  All the damage done by the same part of the Alvirne order.

 

Wish this weather pattern would break... Still looking for Mr Heat Miser - someone keeps capturing the little red head.... Escaped for a couple of days, but once again he's missing...   Of course come summertime we'll be saying man I wish we could have a cool day in the midst of a 5-10 day stretch of 90-100 degree plus humidity days... :-)  Well... maybe not!

I play with Jake Damphouuse and he is not having Tommy john... It's funny how rumors like that get out. He had a minor knee injury and is expected to start against Dover. #TheReturn

Was at the Astro/ Merrimack game. The Astro's look pretty good. Merrimack was never in the game. If we play them tomorrow it should be a pretty good game

You mean everything you read on the internet isn't true?  lol.  Glad to hear it is nothing serious, you guys are too young to suffer major injuries like that.  Good luck this season.

Tough loss for Concord today. Both starters pitched pretty well considering the weather. The Astro's earned it today.

Props to Rob DelSignore for his dominate one-hit, 17 strike out performance vs. North.  Didn't see it, but saw the Union Leader and the numbers are masterful.

I saw that in the Union as well and agree - very impressive.

Hey JohnF, Who's getting the ball for BG today? Jason or Andy?

 

Lawson going for Merrimack.  He pitched well @Bedford.  Struggled @ Exeter.  

 

I spoke to John earlier today. Jason is going Saturday, I don't know about Andy but it's not Jason today.

Andy is getting it today Mike...  Andy's pitched well, but has received zero offensive support (of course that could be said about most of our games!)...

 

Burbank tomorrow vs. South currently listed at 4PM...

 

Jason gets Peabody on Sat eve 7PM (they are ESPN #17 in MA right now, were #3 last week)

Thanks John.  Good luck today. Saturday at Holman 7:00.  Nice after dinner treat.

So I think I have seen enough NH Baseball to form an opinion so far.

Here is my opinion to date. Dover is undefeated for a reason. They are very solid all around. Good pitching (saw their ace) solid defense. They take care of the baseball and seem to get some timely hitting.

Londonderry seems to have a really good one two punch in their rotation.They have the hardest thrower I have seen so far in Delsignore (not sure if anyone does throw harder, heard the kid Donahue throws hard as well). Londonderry seems to have a solid offense as well.

I have seen the #2 and #3 starters for Pinkerton and they both seem to be very good pitchers. Thier offense was good in one game and not so good in another. I would really like to see their ace pitch.

Timberlane seems to be a good team as well with some good young players.

Exeter has a good pitcher as does Concord (I really liked him).

I saw BG play twice now and have been very impressed. I think they could be the dark horse who can sneak up on someone.

Saturdays game against Peabody (who I know well-originally from that area) should be a great test for them.

I also think the best swing I have seen so far belongs to the Merrimack catcher (I think - all these games are starting to blend).

 

Saw Goffstown play and they have some good talent on that team as does Portsmouth.   

All in all I am pretty impressed with NH baseball (compared to MA). I think the talent is very similar.

 

I have seen a few MA games as well if anyone is interested.

St. Johns is not the same as they were in the past few years. Central is not there either. ISL games are the best I have seen. Belmont Hill is a small college team, Salisbury could beat most colloge teams right now......well not most. 

Salem beat Dover 9-5. Wow!!

 

My 2 cents on the season so far:

 

My top 5 are in order-

 

Dover- how can you argue. They still have to face Spaulding, Keene, Pinkerton, Alvirne & Concord. I doubt they finish the season with only 1 loss.

 

Londonderry- Good 1&2 and solid offense. I heard they lost a starter for the season but thats all I know. My guess would be that they will be one of the top 4 teams when all is said & done

 

Astro's- If you look at the end of last season they have won 14 of their last 21 games. They have beat Keene, Spaulding, Concord, Exeter & Central to name a few. Big game for them tomorrow

 

Concord- we can beat anyone on a given day but we can also lay an egg at times. We have struggled against the top teams we have faced.

 

Keene- another team with a dynamic duo on the mound. Great lineup. we have them tomorrow. A lot will be said about both teams after this one.

 

My top 5 starters-

Delsignore

Giampetruzzi

Partridge

Gerossi

Corey

 

 

 

 

I think Ivon Clough deserves being mentioned on that list too.  He's got great control and is in the high 80s but gets forgotten on this forum because he's in D2. He's off to Maine in the Fall. Some other good D2 guys are Jeff Peterson at Windham, Putman at Goffstown, LaFleur at Hollis Brookline who tossed a no hitter today with 17Ks and is a personal favorite of mine and Keim at Stark though rumor has it he's hurt again.  Milford's Britton shut down Portsmouth the other day.  I don't have much knowledge of the Northern teams though so there might be some good ones up there too.

 

I think Ferlan at BG and Lupi at Dover are having really good years too.

SteveL,

I just heard (2 minutes before your post) about Cam LeFleur's no-hitter.  Did not hear about the 17Ks.  Wow.  Congratulations. I would take any of those pitchers you mentioned.  I have seen them all.

 

I also agree with Mudville's observations, especially about that Merrimack catcher.  

Rvaughn33: Beating anyone on any given day and laying an egg at times doesn't define a top 5 team to me.

 

I would say 3 teams have certainly set themselves apart from the next group of 8 or so teams who on any given day (eg. when their #1 is going) can be great, but then on other days lay eggs. There's one team (Salem) that is like the proverbial speeding locomotive - they beat Pinkerton, and Dover.  Let's see how they fare on Monday vs. DelSignore.

 

You could probably walk your way down and find solid #1's on most teams. You didn't mention Alvirne's Tyler Brown in your list - he's pretty good too you know.  When/if Jake Damphousse throws and is healthy he's pretty good too. I haven't seen MacHardy from Winnacunnet throw, but I hear he's good.  I could go on if I could remember all their names.

 

Come tournament time the key will be having more than one pitcher. Is your #1 really better than the other #1?  Can your #2 do the job and obviously can the other team beat your #2?  Can your #3 fill gaps and do you have a closer?  Sometimes deciding who a #1 is on any team depends on whose dad you talk to... Unless you can do the impossible and watch every single game that each kid pitches... On June 5th and 7th a lot of "questions" will be answered...

Mike,  yes I don't seem to hear much debate about who the best catcher is in NH on this forum.  Hat's off to your guy.  Hope he enjoys his time at Bryant.

 

John the other wild card besides the #1 to #1 match ups in the playoffs is the defensive support that the pitchers get.  It seems every team has at least one defensive implosion over the course of the year and unfortunately some save it for a playoff game.  Timing is everything and having to generate six outs in an inning is often too much for even the best pitchers to overcome. 

I agree with you Steve.  Thanks for posting some of the better D2 guys and super congrats on Cam's performance in the no-no. That's fantastic.  There are some guys in D3 who would be in the conversation of better starters in the state, Sahlin at Campbell and Nelson at Hopkinton to name a couple.

Ivon Clough and Conner Sahlin are both good.  Saw them all summer with Show Baseball.  I have been both a fan and coach of Ivon since he was 13. I have had the pleasure to see Connor throw dozens of times the last few years, and he is another young arm with potential.  Cam LeFleur and Ryan Britton are kids that I have seen a few times mostly in the GSBL fall Showcase League. These D2 and D3  pitchers would be just as tough in D1. That's why it is very difficult to pick a #1.    

 

I believe we could pick a staff, maybe 5 starters and 4 relievers and play a college type schedule and be successful.  It looks like it is that kind of year.   So many tough lefties in New Hampshire.  

 

There will be some good match-ups come playoff time.  There are teams like Trinity and Exeter in D1 who based on their record may not be a top team, but could cause problems for a top seed because of arms like Mundy and G.

 

It will be June before we know it.

 

Thanks Steve.  Your words are appreciated.  And again, congrats on Cam's superb outing yesterday.  Good luck down the stretch.  

 

 

Watched Bedford at Timberlane last week. Bedford is a very interesting team. I did not think they looked all that great at first and Timberlane looked really good but then Bedford just starting scoring runs. I don't know much about who pitched for either team but I was impressed at how Bedford played.

Best game of the week was Londonderry vs Pinkerton, including last night (Peabody vs BG- was hoping for a better contest). I think I mentioned that NH baseball talent is almost at the same level as MA baseball on a previous post. Well based on last night I think NH is best kept baseball secret in the northeast. Good for for NH. Some great talent up here.......no wonder it is becoming a recruiting hotbed. I love it.

Pinkerton has some shut down talent on that team.The starter Gerossi was very impressive then they brought in a sophomore Polichetti who was cool as a cat and shut the door with some real mound presence. It was a regular season game but from the crowd and the intesity it seemed like a playoff game.

Last night's Peabody game was all about pitching - fortunately for BG there's was better if I do say so myself...  Although too many walks were issued - I'll take the 1 hitter.  The Peabody pitcher was probably left in 1 inning too long - he had thrown a lot a pitches through 5...

 

I do agree - NH Baseball is looking pretty good right now - I just hope the momentum started by a few can continue on for the future baseball players that don't fall victim to the lacrosse siren.

 

If things hold to form it'll be a very interesting BG/Pinkerton matchup on Thursday...  Gerossie v. Ferlan...   Two pitchers throwing quite well right now.