Travis Terrill pitched a complete-game shutout to lead Alvirne past Nashua North.
Every good baseball team has a pitcher who it can count on to right the ship.
For the Alvirne High School baseball team, that pitcher is Travis Terrill.
A senior who started in the Broncos’ loss to Keene in the Class L championship game last season, Terrill was the team’s most experienced pitcher entered the year, and so far, he’s been what coach Mike Lee calls “the stabilizer.”
Against Nashua North last week, Terrill had his best outing of the season – perhaps even his career – for the Broncos, pitching a complete game shutout in an 8-0 win over the Titans.
He finished the game with seven strikeouts and allowed just four hits, but perhaps most impressive was his command. According to Lee, Terrill threw 70 of his 97 pitches for strikes. For his efforts, Terrill was selected as nh-highschoolsports.com’s Athlete of the Week.
“His ball-to-strike ratio, his command, was outstanding,” Lee said. “When you have a pitcher who is able to put the ball wherever he wants to, good things are going to happen. That’s the best I’ve seen him look in an Alvirne uniform, that’s how dominating he was. That includes when he beat Keene (in the regular season) last year.”
So far this season, Terrill is 2-0 in three starts, with a 1.98 earned run average in 17 2/3 innings. He’s struck out 17 while walking just five.
Terrill might already have been 3-0 if it wasn’t for what Lee called a coaching error earlier this season.
With the Broncos leading Dover, 7-1, going into the seventh, the coach sent Terrill back to the mound because his pitcher wanted to finish the game. Instead, the Green Wave wound up tying the game and winning in extra innings, 8-7.
“He had gotten himself out of a jam in the sixth, and I should have taken him right out,” Lee said. “He’s important given the nature of the club we have.”
Terrill understands that, as one of the few seniors, it falls on him and the other returning players to lead the way. Performances like against North certainly help.
“Guys were definitely excited after that game,” he said. “If you step up on the mound, they’ll step up for you.”
And after letting the game against Dover slip away in a similar position, Terrill was prepared for that final inning.
“This seventh inning, I knew it was my inning and I needed to get through,” he said. “I definitely dug a lot deeper.”
Lee has definitely seen a change in Terrill’s demeanor this season, which he attributes to his pitcher just being a year older with more experience and having to not worry about his future.
“He’s been there,” Lee said. “Last year was his first year on the varsity mound. He’s more experienced.
“He’s got an academic and athletic scholarship next year to Merrimack (College). He can relax, have fun and do what he knows how to do. We’re looking forward to a good month of May.”