Veteran coach Brent Demas feels as though his 2018 Londonderry High baseball team has the ability to be one of the stronger teams in Division I this spring. But after starting out 2-3 in the league and 2-4 overall, the Lancers have some work to do.
Demas saw his Lancers bag their second victory of the still-young season in a 7-6 nipping of Bishop Guertin at Nashua’s historic Holman Stadium on the evening of Wednesday, April 18. But the LHS crew then fell to the Concord Crimson Tide here in the Granite State’s capital on Friday the 20th before making the trip across the New Hampshire/Massachusetts border the next day and getting dealt a defeat by a Bay State contingent.
In the edging of the BG Cardinals during the middle of the week, Londonderry had senior catalyst Ricky Perry enjoy an excellent overall game with two hits including a home run, three runs batted in, two stolen bases, and two runs scored.
The locals tallied some clutch hits with men on the base paths, with Jake Bolduc thumping a two-run double and Andy Ross and Dylan Walsh each lacing two hits and driving in one run.
“Perry was the star though, as his hit proved to be the decisive hit on the day,” said Demas.
Anthony Pirolli got the pitching start for LHS and gave his crew a a gritty 6 2/3 innings, in Demas’ words, “Keeping BG off balance all night while he refined his spots. It was a great bounce-back game from the Spaulding game (a 5-2 loss).”
But Demas wasn’t very pleased following his squad’s 6-2 loss to the host Concord Crimson Tide two days later.
“We came out flat today against Concord and couldn’t overcome the early hole we dug,” lamented the coach. “Too many free bases and mental mistakes led to extra outs against a good club.”
Anthony Ferraro was a standout for the locals, bashing three hits in three official trips to the plate while also contributing solid defense at first base.
The Lancers also received a superb catch from Ross in left field which prevented a run from scoring and got his squad out of a tight spot.
Dakota Johnson, Walsh, and Zach Luongo did the mound-work for LHS, with Luongo making his varsity debut in relief and recording four strikeouts in two innings of work.
“We have the ability to be a top team, but the kids need to figure out how they want this season to go,” stated Demas.
In its out-of-state contest at Andover High School on Saturday the 21st, Londonderry was dealt a 5-3 defeat. And after a Sunday break from competition, the locals entered this week looking at a Monday game against 2-1 Exeter at LHS.
But it’s pretty safe to say that coach Demas and his bunch would much rather forget about that early-week contest, which the locals dropped by a 15-0 count to an Exeter contingent which advanced to 3-1 with its third shutout of the young season.
LHS next plays Merrimack next Monday.