Coffey Post offense explodes in win over Concord

NASHUA – The last eight days have been something else for Nashua Coffey Post 3.

On July 15, Coffey Post was mercy-ruled by Derry, a team that won just six games during the regular season, and needed to win its final four games just to make the New Hampshire American Legion baseball tournament.

Since then, Nashua has been cruising.

Coffey Post scored 42 in those four games, winning all, but Nashua didn’t stop there. After Friday night’s 10-1 win over Sweeney Post 2, Coffey Post exploded Saturday against Concord, putting away a 21-1 win in seven innings, thanks to the mercy rule.

“Wow,” Nashua coach Kevin Palanski said. “What can I say? You like to be on the winning side. I feel bad for those guys. They’ve had a great year.”

Nashua will face Bedford Post 54 in the winner’s bracket at 7 p.m. Sunday, while Concord falls into the loser’s bracket, where it will take on Rochester at 11 a.m.

For anyone keeping count, Nashua has scored 31 runs and has 31 hits in 14 innings. Coffey Post has batted around four times, including three Saturday.

While the bats have been red-hot, Nashua has pitched well and played solid defense.

Joe McCarthy pitched four innings, allowing an unearned run on four hits and three walks, and got help from his defense, which turned two double plays. Nashua pitching has given up just two runs in two games, while the defense has made four double plays and committed three errors, two of which were questionable.

“We go out there and try to play baseball,” Ryan Gendron said. “We’ve hit the ball well. We have a strong batting order. Our pitching, we’ve had strong pitching all year.”

Gendron led the way at the plate, clubbing two home runs – in the second inning. He finished the day with four RBIs and three runs scored.

Joe Breen added three hits, three runs scored and three RBIs for Nashua, while Adam Lieth also drove in three runs with two hits and two runs scored and Keon Jenkins had two doubles and three RBIs.

John Bonifant took the loss for Concord, lasting just a third of an inning and giving up four runs on six hits. Sam McManus and Jack Yvars followed, but neither lasted more than two innings and both gave up eight runs or more.

Gendron led off the second inning with a solo shot to left field, making it a 5-0 game, and after McManus recorded an out, Nashua scored eight straight runs. Gendron drove McManus from the mound with his second home run of the inning, tucking a three-run shot just inside the left field foul pole to make it 13-0.

“Hopefully we can hit through the tournament like this,” Palanski said. “We played pretty sound defensively. We’ve only had a couple of games all season where we’ve really struggled a little bit. Pitching has been pretty consistent, too. And (the pitchers) have been going deep. We hope we can keep it going here.”