Merrimack Post 98 baseball stays alive with win over Bedford Post 54 (video)

NASHUA – Chris Shanahan wants to see his Merrimack Post 98 baseball team take strides every time it takes the field.

Merrimack took a big one on Saturday, winning its first game in the American Legion senior state tournament.

On Sunday, Post 98 took one more, rallying twice to beat Bedford Post 54 8-5 and stay alive in the double-elimination tournament at Holman Stadium. Post 98 will play Rochester Post 7, which beat Sweeney Post 2 7-4 in the first game of the day, at 4 p.m. on Monday.

The winner of that game will move on to play Milford Post 23 at 7 p.m. on Monday for the right to play in Tuesday’s championship game.

Against Bedford, Merrimack was able to take full advantage of five Post 54 errors, as all eight of Post 98’s runs were unearned.

“They made a couple of errors, walked a couple of guys and we got a big hit,” Shanahan said. “We were given opportunities and we took advantage of them. We’ve done it all year when we play well. When we don’t play well, that doesn’t happen.”

It was the bottom of the order that had the biggest ones for Merrimack (10-7), as Tyler DeNeill, who was dropped to seventh in the lineup on Saturday, came up with a three-run triple in the third inning that helped put Post 98 up 5-3.

Bedford (10-8) came back to tie the game at 5 in the sixth, but two errors in the bottom of the seventh kept the door open for Merrimack, and a sacrifice fly by Logan Chaput and a two-run single by Grant Coy – the eight and nine hitters, respectively, put Post 98 ahead for good.

“We took advantage of their mistakes,” Shanahan said. “Especially with (Andrew) Thibault not hitting, we have to. We can’t expect Andrew to do it all the time. It was Grant Coy and (Alex) Thornton (Saturday) and it was Grant and Tyler (Sunday). It can’t be the same guy all the time. It’s a little late, but we’re starting to jell as a team.”

JP Somers got the win, going 7 2/3 innings and allowing five runs – four earned – on 10 hits and four walks with two strikeouts. Somers worked through a couple of jams, including a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the second inning, keeping Bedford off the board.

Post 54 left 10 runners on base, but as much as the missed opportunities hurt, the mistakes in the field did the real damage.

“When we haven’t played well, it comes down to one or two rough innings,” Bedford coach Tim Conway said. “If your defense isn’t here in this tournament, it’s not going to be good. It felt like we were going and we were in a good place, we just couldn’t get over the hump.”

Andrew Fyfe suffered the loss, giving up three runs – all unearned – in 1 2/3 innings on three hits. Quinn Williams started the game for Bedford and allowed five unearned runs on five hits and seven walks in five innings.

It looked like Williams was going to make it out of the third inning unscathed, but shortstop Brian Fyfe couldn’t handle a groundball off the bat of Thornton, allowing Brendan Carter to score and keep the inning alive.

Chad Seaver and Ryan Slate drew back-to-back walks on nine pitches to load the bases, and DeNeill ripped the first pitch he saw to the gap in right center, clearing the bases. With Chaput at the plate, DeNeill was able to score on a wild pitch, giving Merrimack a 5-3 lead.

“I wasn’t really thinking anything, I just saw a chest-high fastball outside and I took it opposite field and it felt right,” DeNeill said.

Bedford came back with an RBI single by Ryan Lee in the fifth and another run-scoring single from Ryan Linehan in the sixth.

But in the seventh, Seaver and Slate hit a single and a double, respectively, to give Merrimack runners at second and third with one out. DeNeill hit a groundball to short and was safe on an error by Brian Fyfe to load the bases.

Chaput followed with a sac fly that scored Seaver, giving Merrimack the lead, and the runners advanced when Andrew Fyfe’s pickoff attempt at first almost went into the Post 98 dugout. Coy then smacked a two-run single to make it 8-5.

“The kid is just a gamer,” Shanahan said of Coy. “He does it over and over. He’s not scared and he likes those spots.”

Bedford had taken a 3-0 lead on a sacrifice fly by Mike Kernan in the first inning and a two-run single by Nick Mokas in the third.

Conway announced after the game that he would be stepping down as the Post 54 coach, ending a run that saw Bedford win a New Hampshire and New England title in 2011. Bedford also reached the tournament in 2012 and 2014-16.

“It’s time to step down,” Conway said. “It’s everything (assistant coach) Paul (Landau) and I wanted to do, and that’s turn this into a successful program that’s fun for the kids.”