Goffstown Post 16 takes early lead, holds off Bedford Post 54 in American Legion baseball

BEDFORD – The Goffstown Post 16 baseball team went into the week knowing it had two big games it would have to win in order to keep its season going into the American Legion state tournament.

And now after two convincing wins, including Thursday’s 12-6 victory over Bedford Post 54, Goffstown is looking at four games against teams that have already been eliminated from the postseason.

“We hold our own destiny,” Goffstown coach Lenny Pappas said. “Looking at the schedule going into this week, we had to go one game at a time. Milford with nine wins and Bedford with 12, those were the two teams that you’ve got to climb the ladder. You can’t expect to win, you’ve got to go out and do it.”

For the second game in a row, Post 16 did it right away, scoring five runs in the first inning and two more in the second and then putting the game away in the fourth with five more runs. Bedford cut into the lead with a run in the eighth and two in the ninth after loading the bases with no one out.

Nathan Proulx got the win for Goffstown (8-6), as he pitched six innings and allowed three runs on four hits and two walks with four strikeouts. David Nelson led the offense by going 2 for 4 with three RBIs while Chris Hood was 2 for 5 with two RBIs and two runs scored and Brendan Hall was 2 for 5, including a two-run triple.

Hood and Hall delivered their run-scoring hits in that fifth inning, as Goffstown made it a 12-1 game.

“We had a couple of clutch hits there and I thought that was huge,” Pappas said. “It allowed to Proulx to settle down and get into a groove.”

Chris Josef took the loss for Bedford (12-5), as he faced just eight batters, walking five, while getting just two outs. Post 16 scored five runs in the first inning on two wild pitches, a balk, an error and an RBI single from Nelson.

“If you don’t have your pitching and defense, there’s not going to be any confidence for the offense,” Bedford coach Tim Conway said. “Chris has had a great year. We tried him starting because we thought he’d be able to shut them down, but he just didn’t have it.”

Brett Veilleaux (two runs), Kyle Andersson (RBI, run) and Brian Fyfe (RBI) each had a pair of hits for Bedford while Andrew Fyfe was 1 for 3 with two walks and a run scored.

Despite the loss, Bedford should still be in the tournament field from District A, thanks to Plymouth’s loss to Milford on Wednesday night.

Goffstown likely needs to win its final four games to have a shot at the postseason, but the combined record of its final four opponents is 12-34.