Derry, Sweeney stay alive in American Legion Tourney

NASHUA – When Chace Spears saw the fly ball hit toward him Saturday, he didn’t think, he just ran.

It was an almost identical scenario for the Derry Post 9 rightfielder as the day before, when a fly ball in the ninth inning against Concord went over his head and led to the game-tying runs.

This time, when Rochester Post 7’s Andrew Langdon smashed a shot into the gap, Spears tracked it down for the final out of a 10-8 win for Derry in the American Legion Senior Tournament at Holman Stadium. The loss eliminated Rochester from the tournament.

“I wasn’t letting this one drop, as soon as it was in the air, I was running,” Spears said. “(Friday) I was thinking about it too much. (Saturday) I wasn’t thinking about anything, just catching the ball.”

Spears catch ended the game and his two-run double in the bottom of the eighth broke an 8-8 tie and gave Derry the lead back. Post 9 had led most of the game, but Rochester tied it in the seventh.

While Spears had the winning hit, Derry’s first four hitters in the lineup gave it the early lead. Chris Gerossie went 3 for 4 with five RBIs, a double and a home run, while Jamie Collins was 3 for 4 with three runs scored, two doubles and an RBI. Riley Cahill was also 3 for 4 with four runs and an RBI.

“As the top of the lineup goes, we go,” Derry coach Dylan Mullin said. “They came up great (Saturday) and did an unbelievable job getting on base, and then when we were on base, the middle of the lineup hit them in. Chris had three hits, Jamie had a couple, Chace had that huge one in the eighth inning. They kept us in the game.”

It didn’t hurt that Derry was facing Rochester starter Loukas Brigham for the third time this season. Just eight days before, Brigham rolled through the Derry lineup in a 7-1 win, but this time, the Post 7 righty struggled with his location.

Brigham went five innings, allowing eight runs on 11 hits and two walks with three strikeouts.

“That’s the third time Loukas had thrown against them and he just couldn’t find that outside part of the plate,” Rochester coach B.J. Gagnon said. “You try to get to the outside part of the plate, and when you don’t do it, that’s what happens. That’s his first loss this year. He had a fantastic year for us and it just wasn’t in the cards.”

Matt Tritto picked up the win for Derry as he went 2 1/3 innings in relief of Josh Yoratz, who gave up eight runs – five earned – in his 6 2/3 innings of work.

Rochester had a 3-1 lead going into the bottom of the third when a double by Collins drove in Cahill and Gerossie followed by crushing a two-runner homer off the top of the brick wall in left field to put Derry up 4-3.

Post 7 came back with three runs in the top of the fourth to go ahead 6-4 but Derry responded with three runs – two on a double by Gerossie – to go back on top 7-6 and added a run in the fifth to make it 8-6.

Rochester put two on with one out in the sixth, but Yoratz was able to get out of the inning. In the seventh, Yoratz walked Logan Larochelle and Ben Gravel with two outs, ending his day. Tritto came in and gave up a single to Michael Bellio that got past Cahill in left, allowing Larochelle and Gravel to score and tie the game.

“The tournament is exciting because you have every team fighting,” Mullin said. “Our three games have gone down to the wire. We’ve preached to our guys all summer, play a hard nine innings and we’ve done that all tournament long.”

Cahill and Collins hit back-to-back one-out singles in the eighth, and after Gerossie flew out to right, Spears hit a ball to left that hit off the wall to bring in Cahill and Collins.

“All my at bats are the same,” Spears said. “I get up there and try to see where he’s throwing from. I want to see where the arm slot is, see where the fastball is coming from so I can jump right on it.

“(Rochester pitcher Nick Ciampa) was coming from the side, so I couldn’t tell if it was a curveball or not. I was nervous that it was a curveball because I’m not a good hitter when it comes to curveballs. When it started coming in fast, I sat right on it and waited. It came right in my spot and I hammered it.”

Sweeney 11, Lebanon 4

Nolan Flynn was 4 for 5 with two RBIs for Sweeney and Kevin Gonzales drive in four runs and got the win on the mound by going eight innings, as Post 2 took control of the game early.

Sweeney scored four runs in the first inning to chase Lebanon starter Cam Broughton and gave Post 2 a cushion throughout the game. Post 22 cut the lead to 7-4 in the top of the sixth, but Sweeney answered with a four-run inning to put things away.

Things got interesting late when Sweeney’s Dan O’Connor stole second with a seven-run lead in the bottom of the eighth. The Lebanon dugout began yelling and coach Rob Woodward made a visit to the mound. On the next pitch, Lebanon’s Ben Robinson drilled Brendan Sullivan on the left elbow.

No warnings were given and Sullivan went to first base. There was no retaliation from Sweeney.