Legion Champs Again

NASHUA – The first thing Anthony DiPrizio does on a play at the plate is find the best place to put his feet.

The Rochester Post 7 catcher found himself doing it twice Wednesday in the top of the seventh inning, and it helped kill off an Exeter Post 32 rally.

With two runs already in, giving Exeter a 3-2 lead with one out, Post 32 was looking for more. But a strong throw from center fielder Rick Creteau to DiPrizio got Henrik Barbin at the plate, and one batter later, Mitch Sytulek also tried to score from second and was gunned down by left fielder Ben Gravel to end the inning.

Rochester responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning and held on for a 5-3 win over Exeter in the championship game of the American Legion senior state tournament at Holman Stadium.

“Those were huge momentum shifts,” DiPrizio said. “They were on a roll, they were getting hits. The first one helped us a little bit. It gave us an out, it gave us some confidence, but the second one was a momentum booster because it was the last out of the inning. That kind of woke our bats up.”

Justin Jewel and Drew Healey had run-scoring singles in the inning and Gravel added a sacrifice fly to give Post 7 a cushion for the final two innings. Exeter got a runner to third in the ninth, but was unable to do any more damage.

“That’s what we’ve done all year long and that comes down to guts, to attack the baseball, to make two strikes to home plate,” Rochester coach BJ Gagnon said. “DiPrizio is hanging in there and able to get to the plate and make those tags, it kept us right there.

“And to the offense, for coming back in the bottom of the seventh and giving us that two-run cushion was huge. They got the tying run to third base in the ninth if we don’t push two (runs) more across.”

Chris States got the win in relief, allowing three hits with a walk and a strikeout in three innings. Josh Gagne pitched the first six-plus, giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out four.

Jewel had a big day at the plate, going 4 for 4 with two RBIs and a run scored Healy, Creteau and Mac Struthers each had two hits off Exeter’s Cody Morissette.

Morissette took the loss, going eight innings and giving up five runs on nine hits and three walks with three strikeouts. Michael Sterritt was 3 for 4 with a run scored and was named the tournament’s most valuable player after batting .636 in Exeter’s five games.

Both teams threatened to score in the first three innings, but it was Rochester that broke through in the bottom of the third. Creteau and DiPrizio led off with singles, but Exeter was able to get Creteau out at home on a grounder by Gagne.

Jewel and Struthers followed with back-to-back RBI singles and Healey walked to load the bases, but Morissette battled back to get a popup and groundout to end the inning.

Exeter cut the lead in half in the top of the sixth, as Sterritt led off with a double and Kyle Ball moved him to third with a single. Gagne got Jack Arend to hit into a double play, scoring Sterritt to make it 2-1.

Back-to-back singles by Cam Weymouth and Colin Shapiro to open the seventh chased Gagne, tying the game at 2-2. States came in and walked Henrik Barbin to put two runners on with no outs. After Morissette struck out, Sytulek singled, driving in Shapiro, but Creteau came up firing from center and got Barbin out at the plate.

Sterritt followed with another base hit, but Sytulek, who had gone to second on Creteau’s throw home, was out at the plate on another strong throw, this time from Gravel.

Rochester answered right back in its half of the seventh, as DiPrizio led off with a walk and went to second on a groundout by Gagne. Three straight singles by Jewel, Struthers and Healey brought in two runs and loaded the bases. Gravel added another run with a sacrifice fly and Morissette got Loukas Brigham to ground out to end the inning.

“Credit those guys over there,” Gagnon said of Exeter. “How many balls did they foul off? That’s a great team. That is definitely the second-best team in the state and for us to go 4-0 against the second-best team in the state says a lot for our guys.”

Rochester will play in the Northeast Regional Tournament starting Aug. 5 in Bristol, Conn.