Legion baseball: Exeter Post 32 run-ruled after early six-run lead at state tournament

NASHUA – It was only the second day, but the deeper you go into the New Hampshire Senior American Legion Tournament at Holman Stadium, the more you realize no lead is safe.

Saturday's 16-6 Nashua Coffey Post 3's win over Exeter Post 32 was a perfect example.

Exeter had a 6-0 lead after two-and-a-half innings, but Nashua (13 hits) scored in every inning thereafter: three in the third, five in the fourth, seven in the fifth before getting the mercy rule run in the sixth.

“When we stick with an offensive approach, we can string some things together,” Nashua manager Norm Kerman said. “These guys have fought back a bunch from being down early. There have been a bunch of games where we've been punched in the mouth for three or four runs in the first. I told them, 'Guys, this isn't anything new. This isn't uncharted territory.'

“We've done it a bunch of times. You saw it again today. … We know we can do it.”

“I think they're the best hitting team in Legion,” Exeter manager Tim Mitropoulos said of Coffey Post. “That's what makes this tournament hard. The ones that do win it, they play good baseball for four to five days, have enough pitching, grind it out. That's why it's a great tournament.”

Nashua now is 2-0 and set to face either Bedford or Salem either Sunday at 7 or on Monday with a chance to get a berth in the finals. Exeter (1-1) will try to regroup and face Londonderry in an elimination game, set for 1 p.m. Sunday, July 27, weather permitting.

The remarkable change in fortune for Nashua came against an Exeter team that's seemingly been held together with duck tape. The roster lists 18 but Post 32 had just 11 players yesterday, thanks to work, injury, illness, vacation, etc., and once starter Collin McGovern became ineffective, Exeter was in trouble.

“The guys that are here are here,” Mitropoulos said. “It is what it is.”

Exeter jumped on Nashua lefty starter Dylan Morelli right away in the first inning sending 10 to the plate for four runs. An infield hit and two walks loaded the bases with one out and Ben Wissler delivered with a two-run single followed by an RBI single by Cam Morrill. Jackie Chan Prompradit drew a bases loaded walk and it was 4-0.

Exeter added a run in the second and third on RBI hits by Shea LaFleur for their 6-0 lead. But that was it.

Nashua began its bat attack in the third, scoring three runs to cut the deficit in half with RBI hits by Nick Wyner (2 for 3, three RBI) and Jayce Martinez (two hits, four RBI).

That was it for McGovern, as Shane McKenney came in to start the fourth, during which Nashua took control with five runs on three walks, an infield error, and just two Nashua hits, the key blows a Martinez two run single and Tyler Parks two-run double. Then Nashua battered the Exeter pen even more in the fifth with eight runs on five hits and three walks. Gavin Santos, Wyner, Mario Ramirez, Jake Daley and Logan Howard were among those with RBI hits. Mercifully, in the bottom of the sixth, Nashua's Keenan Myers delivered a single with an outfield error tacked on to plate the game's final run.

The other story for Nashua was the relief outing by Ramirez, who caught a combined no-hitter to open the tourney on Friday and then pitched 4 2/3 innings of one-run relief.

“The kid's been unbelievable,” Kerman said.  “Throws to contact, he gets it on the ground, he gets swings and misses, he's been our stopper this year. And you saw it today.”

Ramirez threw 77 pitches and if the tourney is delayed a day by Sunday's expected bad weather, Ramirez can conceivably be available. Bryce Larco will get the nod in the next game.

Meanwhile, Mitropoulos said “We have a couple of guys who can go tomorrow.”

Nashua, the top seed in Division B thanks to a late surge, has to be confident.

“This one felt really good,” Kerman said. “It didn't feel overly great being down 6-0, we've got some work to do, but … These guys have a lot of confidence.”

“That, Mitropoulos said of the day, “is the Legion tournament.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Legion baseball: Exeter Post 32 run-ruled after early six-run lead