After dropping three of its previous four games stepping into this week, the 9-8 Londonderry High baseball squad was intent upon making its final few games of the 2017 season fruitful as the Division I tournament nears.
The Lancers have had an up and down campaign this spring, and the downs were pretty distinct last week as the LHS crew sandwiched a slim win over Manchester Central between losses to the Alvirne Broncos and the Dover Green Wave.
The LHS crew was bested by the visiting Alvirne contingent from Hudson by a lopsided 12-1 tally in Londonderry last Tuesday the 16th, with the Broncos scoring eight runs in the top of the first inning to give their hosts a huge hill to climb.
The locals finished the game with just five hits which came from five different sources.
But coach Demas’ charges returned to the winning path on Wednesday the 17th at Gill Stadium where they edged the host Manchester Central bunch by a 3-2 score in nine innings.
Central snared a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning and went up 2-0 in the latter half of the fifth frame.
But Londonderry got one of those runs back in the top of the sixth and knotted the score at 2-2 with a run in the top of the seventh. They then plated the game-winning run in the top of the ninth.
Anthony Pirolli went seven frames for the locals, allowing seven hits and two runs – just one of which was earned – before Nate Sullivan took over on the hill.
Sullivan ended up claiming the pitching win by going the last two innings and striking out two batters, and he also helped the LHS cause by smacking two hits. Dakota Johnson also drilled two hits and drove in a run, and Xander LaPlante knocked two safeties including a double.
But Londonderry was bested by the visiting Dover High Green Wave by a 7-5 tally at LHS on Friday May 19, with the visitors overcoming an early 2-0 deficit to win.
The Wave saw its host jump out 2-0 in the latter half of the first, but the visitors scored three times in the top of the fifth in snaring a 3-2 advantage.
Londonderry knotted the score at 3-3 by scoring once in the bottom of the sixth, but Dover answered in the top of the seventh by scoring four times.
Now trailing 7-3, the hosts made a push toward a full comeback in the bottom of the seventh but got no more than two runs to get to the final 7-5 score.
Londonderry out-hit Dover by a 10-6 tally in the loss, with Ricky Perry and Shane McNamara each smacking two hits.
The LHS crew began this week with a Monday afternoon home battle with the visiting Keene High Blackbirds, with the locals looking to remain above the .500 mark.
However, the locals saw a frustrating 7-6 loss to the visiting Keene crew that afternoon.
Heading into the seventh inning, the Lancers grasped what appeared to be a commanding 6-1 lead. But the Blackbirds scored six times in the top of the seventh and wound up bagging the win.
Keene finished the contest with some nine hits to their hosts’ eight. Londonderry got two hits each from LaPlante and Nick Salcito, with both LaPlante and Reece Manor each driving in two runs.