Sweeney Post 2 rallies in the ninth to beat Hudson Post 48

NASHUA – The Sweeney Post 2 offense struggled for most of Sunday’s game against Hudson Post 48, but three swings of the bat changed that.

Kevin Gonzales and Brendan Sullivan singled to the almost identical spot in right field to lead off the top of the ninth, and Connor Walsh drove them both in with a double to the gap in right-center to tie the game 3-3.

One out later, Nolan Flynn singled to drive in Walsh, and Flynn followed it up with a perfect bottom of the ninth to complete Sweeney’s comeback in a 4-3 win in the American Legion Senior Tournament at Holman Stadium.

Sweeney will have a shot at the state title for the first time since 2009 when it will play Derry Post 9 at 4 p.m. on Monday. The winner then plays Dover Post 8 at 7 p.m. for the title.

“We’ve told the kids from Day 1, it’s going to take all 15 of them to get the ultimate goal,” Sweeney coach David Flurey said. “Our goal was to play on the last day and we’re fortunate that we have. The pitching has been great. Everyone who has gone out there has given us a chance to win. That’s all you can ask for in a tournament like this.”

This time it was Ryan Baldwin who gave Post 2 the chance, as he went eight innings and allowed three runs – two earned – on six hits and three walks while striking out six. Hudson got two runs in the first inning and one in the sixth, but Baldwin was able to work out of jams in the third and fifth and retired the final seven batters he faced.

“We did have some opportunities, but we couldn’t capitalize on them,” Hudson coach Scott Szuksta said. “I thought (Baldwin) was the best when he was in trouble. He got rattled in that first inning and it would have been easy to get blown up, but he did a nice job and my hat is off to him.”

It was a big performance for a player who didn’t pitch at all during the high school season, Flurey added.

“We didn’t know what we were going to get out of him having not pitched in high school and only pitching in two games for us,” the coach said. “He’s a big, strong kid and he gave us a lot more than we could have expected. It’s one of the gutsiest performances.”

Dakota Williams suffered the loss for Post 48 as he gave up four runs on eight hits and a walk in two-plus innings of relief of starter Ryan Glendye, who was returning to the mound after shutting out Sweeney in the tournament opener on Thursday.

In all, Glendye pitched 15 innings against Sweeney and held it to no runs on 12 hits and two walks.

“I was worried about pitching going in and Ryan (Glendye) gave us as much as he could,” Szuksta said. “They scored 26 runs against other pitchers in 19 innings and he held them to nothing in 15. That shows how incredible he is.”

Seeing Glendye leave the game was a bit of a relief for Sweeney.

“He’s a good pitcher,” Walsh said. “He kept us off-balance both times he faced us. He had good curveballs and his fastball is even faster after seeing the curve. When he came out, we were like ‘now we can get some hits.’ ”

That’s what Sweeney did, as Peter Abood sent the first pitch from Williams over the left field fence to open the seventh inning, making it a 3-1 lead for Hudson.

Post 2 loaded the bases with two out in the eighth, but Williams got Dan O’Connor to ground out to end the threat.

Greg Emanuelson and Jacen Hudson each had an RBI single for Post 48 in the first inning to make it a 2-0 game. In the third, Kellin Bail walked and Connor Whittemore singled and both advanced on a passed ball to put runners at second and third with no one out.

But Baldwin struck out Emanuelson and got Williams to hit a grounder to third baseman Zach Szczechowicz. Bail broke for home and got caught in a run down for the second out and Hudson flied out to right to end the inning.

In the sixth, James Sullivan manufactured a run almost single-handedly, as he led off with a single, was sacrificed over by Jackson Musco and took third when no one was covering the base. He then scored on a throwing error to make it 3-0.

Sweeney finished the game with 14 hits, but also left 13 runners on base.

“They never gave up,” Flurey said. “We battled all day. We had opportunities early on to score and we put runners on and we finally came up with a couple of big hits.”