Merrimack advances to D1 baseball semifinals with win over Exeter

MANCHESTER – Matt Wojciak knew the situation going into the seventh inning.

The lefty was just three outs away from a no-hitter in a quarterfinal game that would put the Merrimack High School in the Division I semifinals.

Exeter broke up Wojciak’s no-hit bid, putting two runners on with one out in the top the seventh, but just like he’d done all day, the Merrimack hurler closed the door and the No. 3 Tomahawks defeated the No. 6 Blue Hawks 6-1 on Tuesday at Gill Stadium.

Wojciak finished with a one-hitter, giving up one unearned run on five walks and two hit batters while striking out seven. Exeter got runners on base with under one out in five innings, but Wojciak and the ’Hawks defense found ways to strand nine runners.

“The defense has been stellar all season and it played great again behind me and allowed me to get through,” Wojciak said. “I hate to admit I did, but I did (know about the no hitter). They’ve got a bunch of good hitters in their lineup. To make it that far without a hit, I consider myself lucky.”

Exeter coach Kevin McQueen felt his team had plenty of opportunities, but once the Blue Hawks (12-8) got put runners on, they struggled.

“We get a couple guys on and maybe somebody can shoot a gap and get us on the board, but (Wojciak) gets a lot of the credit,” McQueen said. “He was outstanding when we got guys on and he battled through it. We thought if our guys were patient and we’d get some opportunities to score. Give him credit, when we got guys on, he managed to shut us down and keep it where it was.”

With Merrimack’s field unusable for the second straight day, the teams played at Gill at 1 p.m. on Tuesday. The odd start seemed to affect both teams, as they combined for four runs through the first three innings on six walks, a hit batter, a fielder’s choice, two errors, two sacrifice flies, a sacrifice bunt and a passed ball, but no hits.

“I strongly believe that if we do the little things, big things will happen for us,” Merrimack assistant coach Jim Davala said. “They just have to execute and (Tuesday) they executed. We got the timely hits and we played small ball. We stayed right on it, we didn’t back track.”

Exeter got two one-out walks in the top of the first, but Wojciak battled back to get out of the inning. Merrimack got on the board in the bottom of the frame, as Ian Theriault reached on a walk, stole second and went to third on what amounted to a swinging bunt by Jackson King.

The throw to third was too late to get Theriault and King reached safely, then went to second on a passed ball. Tom Hudon’s sacrifice fly scored Theriault and moved King to third. Tim Michaud followed with another sac fly, bringing in King to make it 2-0.

Wojciak again issued two walks, this time giving free passes to the first two Exeter batters, and a sacrifice bunt moved the runners up. But he struck out Tyler Grant and had two strikes on Ethan Joyce when a passed ball allowed Exeter’s Conor Cavrier to score from third. Wojciak then got Joyce to ground out to shortstop.

But Merrimack got the run back when Shane Williams drew a one-out walk, took second on a passed ball and went to third on a ground out by Dylan O’Brien. Exeter first baseman Brad Tiernan tried to get Williams at third, but his throw was off the mark allowing Williams to score to make it 3-1.

Exeter put two runners on again in the third, sixth and seventh innings, but couldn’t get any of them past second base.

The ’Hawks, meanwhile, got their first in the fourth inning, stringing together three doubles – including RBI doubles by Taylor Black and Williams – and a single to take a 5-1 lead. Williams drove in another run with a single in the bottom of the sixth.

“Everyone got the hits when we needed to,” Wojciak said. “Even when we weren’t hitting the ball, we were pushing the runs across. People were doing what they needed to.”

Merrimack will take on No. 2 Nashua North (16-5) in the semifinals at 4 p.m. on Thursday at Holman Stadium. The teams played once this season, with the Titans winning 12-2 on April 13, but the ’Hawks have changed a lot since then. They’ve recorded 11 shutouts since then and allowed only four runs during a 12-game winning streak.

“It feels awesome,” Wojciak said. “Heading to the final four and we get to take on North. We lost to them in a tough game in the first week. We’re definitely looking to get back and go to Holman and give them a shot.”