Bedford has tough first week in Division I baseball

After reaching at least the Division II semifinals in each of the last three season, the Bedford High School baseball team has been presented with a new challenge.

The Bulldogs played their first games in Division I last week, and it didn’t start the way they might have hoped. Bedford opened the season with an 8-2 loss at Bishop Guertin and followed it up with a 4-3 loss at home to Nashua North.

Not exactly how head coach Billy Chapman wanted things to go, but his team is gaining the always-important experience.

“It’s good to get a game under our belt and get going, but as we’ve talked, we’re kind of in that situation where we’re rebuilding our pitching,” Chapman said. “We have a lot of inexperienced pitchers. We have guys who are willing to battle on the mound, they just need to gain some experience. They’re going to have to learn that they’re not going to be able to throw the fastball by everyone. They’re going to have command their pitches, hit their spots and let the defense help them out.”

Although the Bulldogs have some experienced position players back, including senior captains Andy LaLonde and Ben Philbrick, that inexperience on the mound is coming at time when there are no more easy games on Bedford’s schedule.

“The last couple of years, (in Division II) you could have looked at some games and assumed you’d be getting a W,” Chapman said. “In Division I, there is no assuming anything.

“Every team has a good pitcher, if not two or three, so getting through the first guy doesn’t mean anything. You’ve got to battle all seven innings and you can’t take any pitches off.”

That included Monday’s loss to Bishop Guertin. The Bulldogs might have expected to see Jeff Lunn get the start for the Cardinals, but instead, it was Matt Morais taking the mound and Andrew Williams pitching in relief. Lunn delivered the big hit for Bishop Guertin, a three-run double to cap a six-run second inning.

“We didn’t command our pitches very well and we left our pitches in the middle of the zone for them to hammer in big situations,” Chapman said. “Our success is going to be with strike throwers and contact hitters. If we can do that, I think we can compete in Division I.”

Bedford gets another shot Monday when it hosts Salem.