Hudson Post 48 wins ugly game against Rochester Post 7
NASHUA – With the way things had been going Friday night, Scott Szuksta had a good feeling even though Hudson Post 48 was down a run going into the top of the ninth.
NASHUA – With the way things had been going Friday night, Scott Szuksta had a good feeling even though Hudson Post 48 was down a run going into the top of the ninth.
Szuksta turned out to be right, as Hudson scored five runs in the frame and Dakota Williams shut Rochester Post 7 down in the bottom half to give Post 48 an 11-7 win in the American Legion Senior Tournament at Holman Stadium.
The outburst in the top of the ninth was the sixth lead change of a game that went back and forth from the start, as the teams combined for 11 errors and 12 walks, and 10 of the 18 runs scored were earned, including all five of Hudson’s in the ninth.
“It wasn’t a pretty game,” Szuksta said. “I think they were generous on a couple of the scorings. I really felt like we were going to (get something in the top of the ninth). I talked to my assistant coaches and after (Connor) Whittemore got on, I asked, do we go for a big inning or do we bunt him over to second and go for the tie. We decided to go for the big hit and Greg (Emanuelson) got his big hit and Dakota got a hit. We got the big inning we were hoping for.”
Williams picked up the win by pitching 2 2/3 innings of relief, allowing an unearned run on one hit and one walk with four strikeouts. He was also 3 for 4 with three runs scored and an RBI, while Emanuelson was 2 for 5 with two runs and Luis Matrille was 2 for 5 with two RBIs.
Jacen Hudon got the start for Post 48 and went six innings, giving up five runs – two earned – on five hits and four walks.
“Jacen did a good job,” Skusta said. “He didn’t have his best stuff, he wasn’t hitting his spots, but he gritted through and gave us six innings. Dakota has done a great job closing for us this year. He shut the door on them.”
Rochester’s Jordan Damon, the fifth of Post 7’s six pitchers on the night, took the loss, going 2/3 of an inning and was tagged with five runs on five hits and a walk. Drew Colbert pitched the first five-plus innings for Rochester, striking out eight while giving up five runs – one earned – on five hits and a walk.
“It was kind of an ugly baseball game, it really was,” Rochester coach B.J. Gagnon said. “We didn’t play well from the first pitch of the game. We didn’t string any hits together, we didn’t make plays when we had to. They gave us just about everything we got and we gave them just about everything they got until it blew open in the ninth.”
Rochester took a 2-0 lead in the first, but Hudson tied it up in its half of the second and went up 3-2 with a run in the third.
Post 7 got a two-run single from Ben Gravel in the fourth to go up 4-3 and again Hudson came back, tying the game when centerfielder Justin Jewell dropped a fly ball off the bat of Hudson, allowing Emanuelson to score.
Post 48 loaded the bases with no one out, but Rochester’s Kyle Bernier struck out Dan Brown and got Jackson Musco to pop up to first. Matrille followed with a single to right, scoring Williams. Post 48 might have had more, but Hudson ran through a stop at third and was easily thrown out at home for the third out.
Two Post 48 errors led to an unearned run for Rochester in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game and Post 7 took the lead in the bottom of the seventh. Hudson again tied it in the eighth and Rochester again took the lead in the bottom of the inning.
The loss snapped Rochester’s 14-game winning streak; Post 7’s last loss was to Hudson back on June 30.
