Merrimack baseball holds off Manchester Memorial

MERRIMACK – With the way Monday’s baseball game between Merrimack and Manchester Memorial high schools was going, Nick Jaskolka felt it would end in a strange way.

The Merrimack coach couldn’t have been more right.

Up by a run going into the top of the seventh, the Crusaders put the tying and winning runs on base. But Memorial’s attempt at a suicide squeeze turned into a game-ending double play and Merrimack escaped with a 10-9 win over the Crusaders.

“I knew it was going to be a crazy finish,” Jaskolka said. “We put ourselves in a tough situation by walking the first guy and struggling to throw a strike to the second guy, even when he couldn’t get a bunt down. Then he gets a base hit and we have to make a play. We got lucky is what it was.”

Merrimack (9-4) was also resilient, falling behind 6-0 in the top of the second inning, only to rally and tie the game in the bottom of the frame. Memorial went back ahead, 8-6, in the top of the fourth, but again, Merrimack rallied and took a 10-8 lead.

“That’s a big win,” Merrimack catcher Mickey Gasper said. “I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. A win like this is definitely big. It set the tone, after a tough loss at Keene (on Saturday), it set the tone for the rest of the week.”

Gasper helped lead the Tomahawks’ offense, going 2 for 3 with an RBI and two runs scored, while Brenden Holt drove in two runs with a single in the second and Brett Glendye drove in two more with a bases-loaded walk in the second and when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the fourth.

Despite not having his best stuff, Evan McCormick picked up the win, allowing eight runs on six hits and two walks in four innings. Devin Gillis also had two hits and pitched three innings of relief to get the save.

Gillis also started the game-ending double play. Cody Marchant walked and Brendan Sullivan singled to open the seventh, and both advanced a base following a sacrifice bunt by Aaron Mersereau.

With Darren Sayer at the plate, Marchant broke for home on Gillis’ second pitch. Sayer was able to connect on a bunt, but the ball popped up and Gillis was able to race in for the catch.

Holt had been charging in from third, but was closer to the bag than Marchant, and Gillis waited until to make the throw until his third baseman was back at the bag to double-up the runner.

“We called a two-seam (fastball), so it was running up and in on him, trying to get him to do that,” Gasper said. “As soon as I saw it in the air, I knew that kid was breaking on a steal. Make sure we catch that ball and it was good we gave our guy time to get back and make the play. I thought (first baseman Nate) Cushman was going to get it, but (Gillis) slid in there and grabbed it. It was a nice play.”

For Memorial (3-10), it was another frustrating loss in a season of them. Monday’s defeat was the sixth of three runs or less for the Crusaders.

“We have been fighting all year,” Memorial coach Aaron Abood said. “We hang around in games and can’t put it together at the end. We didn’t do the little things we should do. We didn’t throw strikes, we didn’t make plays, we didn’t get our bunts down. We walked a couple and that’s what happens when you walk guys, you let teams back into the game.”

Jacob Boylan was 3 for 4 with three RBIs and two runs scored, while Donovan Murby had a three-run double and scored a run in the second inning and Ethan Pollock also had two hits, a RBI and a run scored.