Steve Dvorak and defending-champion Londonderry will look to bounce back in the loser's bracket on Saturday.
NASHUA – Rick Brothers’s pain was B.J. Gagnon’s pleasure.
Rochester Post 7 used two big innings to turn an early four-run deficit into a 15-5 win over Londonderry Post 27 in the American Legion baseball state tournament Friday at Holman Stadium. The game was called after seven innings because of the mercy rule.
While Gagnon enjoyed every minute of an eight-run fourth and a six-run seventh, Brothers was left fuming in the visiting team dugout.
“It was fun to watch,” said Gagnon, the Rochester coach. “We had some guys have some really good at bats.”
In both innings, Post 7 sent seven batters to the plate before an out was recorded. In the bottom of the fourth, Rochester batted around, sending 12 to the plate. All the damage was done in the seventh without an out ever being recorded.
Matt Grenier and Tyler Poisson each had two hits, including a double apiece, and drove in three runs while Kory Ferullo had two hits, scored two runs and drove in three runs from the leadoff spot.
Grenier also went the distance on the mound, allowing five runs on eight hits and three walks with two strikeouts. He also overcame the early deficit, and at one point, retired nine Londonderry hitters in a row.
“We didn’t have to use anybody else,” Gagnon said of his pitchers. “If we had gone eight or nine (innings), we would have probably had to use somebody else. We didn’t have to do that. We kept the pitch count decent. It also takes two innings from (Grenier) that we can add on later. It gives him an opportunity to come back for those two innings.”
Early on, it looked like Londonderry and starter Chris Crutcher would be the ones in control.
With two outs and no one on in the second inning, Jake Finnegan took what he thought was ball four and tossed his bat toward the Londonderry dugout. But the home plate umpire called it a strike and Finnegan returned to the box.
On the next pitch, he crushed a line drive that made it over the right field wall to give Londonderry a 1-0 lead.
Post 27 added three more runs in the top of the third on three hits, an error and a walk to take a 4-0 lead.
Meanwhile, Crutcher cruised through the first three innings, striking out five. Rochester got a run back in the third, but missed out on a chance for more when Ferullo was thrown out at home to end the inning.
But then came the bottom of the fourth.
A single, a walk and an error loaded the bases before Crutcher walked in a run to make it 4-2. Back-to-back singles by Logan Zriny and Ferullo tied the game before Poisson drilled a two-run double, giving Rochester a lead it wouldn’t give up.
Crutcher recorded the first out, getting Tyler Thurber to ground out, but Grenier followed with a two-run double of his own. Rochester led 8-4 and Cruther’s day was done. Kasey Carollo came on in relief and was able to get out of the inning, but not before Post 7 added another run, making it 9-4.
“I didn’t,” Brothers said when asked if he knew Rochester could hit the way it did. “The fourth inning, they opened up the doors and we couldn’t get an out. That’s about it.”
Both teams went down in order in the fifth and sixth, and Londonderry got a run back in the seventh. Joey Hamilton and Vinny Parilla opened the inning by drawing back-to-back walks before Dan Lagasse singled home Hamilton to make it 9-5.
But Donald Reed popped up for the first out and Geoff Fisher hit into a double play to end the inning.
Rochester got the offense going in the bottom of the seventh to end the game.
“I was getting a little worried there in the fifth and sixth,” Gagnon said. “We kind of shut it down a little. We got too content with a five-run lead. We can’t do that. We need to put a team away. We did a good job of that in the seventh.”
For Londonderry, Lagasse had two hits and two RBIs, while Finnegan and Steve Dvorak each had two hits.
Post 27 will now play at noon on Saturday against the loser of Goffstown and Laconia, which was scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday night. Rochester will face the winner of that game at 4 p.m. Saturday.
