Bishop Guertin baseball bounces back with win over Nashua South

NASHUA – After starting the season with 11 straight wins, the Bishop Guertin High School baseball team faced its first real adversity.

The Cardinals fell to Pinkerton on Wednesday and Bedford on Thursday, but they responded like a championship-caliber team should and defeated rival Nashua South, 10-2, behind a six-run sixth inning on Saturday night at Holman Stadium.

“We were coming off two tough losses and we needed this win,” said Bishop Guertin coach Scott Painter. “Nashua South is a team that always plays us tough."

Stephen McClendon earned the complete-game win on the mound for the Cardinals (12-2), as he struck out the side in the first, gave up seven hits, and only allowed one earned run. He retired the side in order during the sixth, and finished with four strikeouts and only walked one batter.

"Stephen McClendon threw really well for us and our offensive pressure was really good," Painter said. "We played well defensively and ran the bases well. The guys had a team meeting after the Bedford loss and it was basically about getting back on track. This one was a must-win game for us."

On the offensive side, Bishop Guertin was led by sophomore Jake Mitchell (2 for 3, three RBIs, run), senior Billy Gonya (2 for 4, RBI, run) and senior leadoff hitter Aiden Coyne (2 for 3, two walks, two runs).

Junior Roy Santiago Sanchez led South (3-9) with a 4-for-4 performance at the plate with a run scored. Panthers junior starter Andres Hulfachor suffered the loss, but he went 5¹⁄3 innings and he only allowed one earned run to a loaded BG lineup.

“For Andres to sit there and hold the top-team in the state to one earned run is impressive,” said Panthers coach James Gaj. “If we played clean defense behind him, then it would have been a different ballgame.”

Bishop Guertin led the hits category, 9-7. South made five errors, while Bishop Guertin made only one miscue.

The Cardinals opened the scoring in the first with Mitchell drawing a two-out RBI walk with the bases loaded, and then senior Alex George scored on a wild pitch, pushing the lead up to 2-0.

South responded in the second, as juniors Dante Young and Jacob Smith led off with back-to-back singles. Senior Ryan Lopez moved the two runners into scoring position with a ground out to short, and then two batters later, sophomore Chris Keefe plated Young off an RBI on a fielder’s choice, cutting the deficit down to 2-1.

“Unfortunately, we came out on the losing side (Saturday), but we made it a game,” said Gaj. “I was pretty happy for a while there because we hung tough. Bishop Guertin is the best team right now, and they are the team to beat. They are pretty scary even though they lost two.”

Cardinals senior Noah Therrien led off the bottom of the second with a walk, and then advanced to second on a wild pitch. An error by the third baseman allowed Therrien to cross home with an unearned run, giving Bishop Guertin a 3-1 lead.

In the bottom of the fourth, Coyne dug out a one-out infield single to short, stole second, and then scored an unearned run following two throwing errors by the Panthers, as Bishop Guertin claimed a 4-1 lead.

An RBI ground out to second in the fifth by Panthers senior Roe Hendrick allowed Santiago Sanchez to cross home, cutting the deficit down to 4-2.

The Cardinals blew the game open with a six-run effort in the sixth. Bishop Guertin took a 5-2 lead on a one-out RBI single to third by senior Sam Boudreau. A one-out, two-run single to right by Mitchell extended the Cardinals’ advantage to 7-2. The rally ended with Gonya stealing home with two down on a wild pitch, pushing the lead up to 10-2.

“If you look at our box scores, we score 1-1-1-4 or 1-1-2-4 so we have been doing that all year,” said Painter. “We wore Andres down, as he was at 106 or 108 pitches. Our at bats were really good and we stretched him out a little bit.”

The Cardinals will host Concord on Monday at Holman Stadium with first pitch set for 7 p.m., while the Panthers will travel to Salem for a 4 p.m. start on Monday.