Dover Post 8 gets 12-inning win over Lebanon Post 22

NASHUA – Ryan Cordeiro’s sacrifice fly brought home Mike Wasserman with the winning run Friday in the bottom of the 12th as Dover Post 8 came back to beat Lebanon Post 22 in the American Legion Senior Tournament.

Lebanon kept Dover off the board for the first seven innings, but Post 8 tied the game in the bottom of the eighth and escaped a few jams late to pull out a 2-1 win to advance in the winner’s bracket.

Casey Aubin picked up the win by pitching four innings of scoreless relief, allowing two hits and three walks while striking out seven. Anthony Lupi started and went eight innings, giving up one run on five hits and four walks.

“Casey shut (Concord) down (Thursday) and I said to him before the game, if you can go again, that’s the plan,” Dover assistant coach Jake Bishop said. “Can’t say enough stuff about him, he did it again.”

Lebanon scored a run in the top of the first, as Caleb Broughton led off the game with a single, went to third on a single by Noah Skarin and scored on a sacrifice fly by Ben Bates.

But Post 22 couldn’t get anyone else across for the final 11 frames. Lebanon left two on in the eighth and ninth, and had two runners on with two out in the top of the 10th when Tanner Sims crushed a ball to left, but Dover’s Ryan Hayden tracked it down for the final out.

“The kid who hit the bomb to the fence, I thought we were in our cars,” Bishop said. “Ryan Hayden made a heck of a catch. That was probably the catch of the game. That’s a two-run shot.

Chase Hussey took the loss as he went 4 1/3 innings in relief of Andrew Houde. Hussey gave up two hits and walked one, while Houde struck out six in 7 2/3 innings and allowed a run on six hits and four walks.

Houde had faced just five over the minimum through seven innings, but in the eighth, Cordeiro, Aaron Denis and Jordan Goss hit back-to-back-to-back two-out singles, with Goss’s hit scoring Cordeiro to tie the game. Hussey came on in relief and needed just one one pitch to get Connor Rittenhouse to pop up to end the inning.

Hussey retired the side in order in the 10th and 11th, but with one out in the 12th, Wasserman hit a double to left center.

“My previous at bats, I’d been hitting the ball hard right at people,” Wasserman said. “I was just looking for a hole and I watched the ball all the way in and got a good swing on it. In a game like this, you’ve got to get runners into scoring position. I put my head down and started charging.”

Jared Gagne’s ground ball to second was bobbled by Lebanon’s Cam Broughton and Wasserman moved to third on the play. Hussey intentionally walked Hayden and Cordeiro hit a fly to center that was deep enough for Bishop to send Wasserman.

“I didn’t even watch the ball, I just put my head down and told coach to send me when he was ready,” Wasserman said. “I got my hand between (Sims’) legs and touched the plate. I saw the ball come out anyway.”

The win sent Dover to the final game of the day Saturday, where Post 8 will face Hudson Post 48 at 2 p.m.