Written by Looking at the standings and trends earlier today, it would seem that a Portsmouth victory was nearly a foregone conclusion. Portsmouth entered play at 6-1, while Goffstown had limped to a disappointing 2-5 start. It’s one of the best, if not the best, rivalries in NH baseball, Portsmouth vs. Goffstown. Then again, that’s why they play the games. Goffstown came from behind and shocked the Clippers with a 7-5 win at Lion’s Field in Goffstown.
Portsmouth is good. They are always good. They are well coached, well schooled, and deep in skilled players. Today, they were good, but they made some mistakes and Goffstown pounced on the opportunities. But before any of that happened Cal Hewett lined the third pitch of the game into the trees beyond the center field fence for a leadoff home run off of Grizzlies ace, Connor Hujsak. Today though, Goffstown was resilient, and clutch. After Hujsak and Clay Campbell made two quick outs to start the bottom of the first inning, the Grizzlies scratched out a pair of runs. Oscar Lalime started on the mound for Portsmouth, and he was a factor all day long. Bob Doherty singled to shortstop when Myles Sargent didn’t field the ball cleanly on a slow hit ball, but Doherty had any throw beat anyway. Will Soucy hit a hard groundball to Sargent that kicked off of his glove and into left-center field. Doherty had stolen second base and came around to score as Soucy’s ball was botched by Cal Hewett in center field, but no further advance was made. Then Jared Heidenreich roped a single to center field scoring Soucy who had advanced on a passed ball by Jacob Grant for Portsmouth. Just like that, the Grizzlies led 2-1, after one inning.
In the second inning, Hujsak hit the opposing pitched in the foot with a pitch on a play that looked like Lalime had swung at the 3-2 pitch. Hujsak retired the next three batters to get out of the inning. Liam Kilbreth led off the bottom of the inning with an infield single. Ben Dodge was hit by a 3-2 pitch and gave Goffstown two runners. Clay Campbell came to the plate with two on and two out and singled to center field scoring Kilbreth. Doherty followed with a two-out RBI single of his own, ripped into left field, scoring Dodge. Soucy had a bid for a third consecutive hit robbed on a great play by Sargent at shortstop. Goffstown led 4-1 after two innings.
Portsmouth wins a lot, and one of their strongest attributes year in and year out is that they don’t quit. Today was no different. In the third inning though, they got a lot of help from Goffstown’s starting pitcher. Hujsak’s unhittable breaking pitch from the first two innings suddenly became unthrowable. The right-hander hit the 9th batter, Jacob Grant, he walked the leadoff man Hewett, then hit Sargent, and Timm Kutzer. It was a similar lapse of control that looked something like last year’s title game. Oscar Lalime finally singled on the 7th pitch of his at-bat and Portsmouth had tied the game. Three runs on one hit. Ryan Minckler then hit a line shot right at TJ Dutton who snagged the line drive and hit Clay Campbell with a throw at second base to double Lalime off the bag and end the threat. Goffstown went down quietly in the third and fourth innings, while Portsmouth added a run on singles by Aaron Lundgren and Grant before Hewett knocked in a run on a fielder’s choice. Going to the bottom of the fifth inning, the Grizzlies now trailed 5-4.
In the bottom of the fifth, with all the momentum on the side of the visitors now, Goffstown fought back. Will Soucy lined a double to the right-center field gap that hit off of Cal Hewett’s glove. Hewett started from center-field but was shaded over toward left-center, expecting Soucy to pull the ball. Hewett sprinted across the outfield and nearly grabbed the line drive to the gap. Soucy safely slid head-first into second base with one out in the inning. Soucy advanced to third base on Jared Heidenreich’s ground out to the right side. With two outs, Myles Green hit a hard one-hop shot at Jack Russo playing first base. Russo did everything right except getting his glove to the ball first. Instead, the ball slammed off of Russo’s chest and bounced away. Soucy scored on the extra out and the game was tied 5-5 going to the sixth inning.
Hujsak pitched around a leadoff walk to Minckler and held the Clippers off of the scoreboard. In the bottom of the inning, Hujsak ripped a one-out double inside the left field line with a headfirst slide to finish it off. On the very next pitch, Lalime’s 106th pitch of the day, Clay Campbell scalded a line drive into right field that not only scored Hujsak, but got through Conner Hopley in right-field, and all the way to the fence. Campbell kept running, passed GO, collected $200 and easily made it to third base. On pitch number 107, Bob Doherty pounded a single to left field, his third hit of the day, for an insurance RBI single. Goffstown was back in front, 7-5. Portsmouth pulled Lalime for Jason Linchey and Will Soucy promptly dropped a soft single to right field. With runners at first and second, Heidenreich hit a hard one-hopper back to Linchey who played it perfectly, spinning and firing a perfect throw to Ryan Sargent at second base who turned over the double play with an accurate throw to Russo at first base to end the inning.
Hujsak returned to the mound to complete what he started even though he was at 100 pitches exactly. Facing the top of the order, Hujsak hung an offspeed pitch, and Cal Hewett roped it into left field for a leadoff single. Drew Hudson bounced out to second baseman, TJ Dutton. Hujsak then hit Myles Sargent on a pitch that most of the ballpark thought hit off of Sargent’s bat. Even the home plate umpire called it a foul ball. After phoning a friend, Sargent and his coach convinced the panel of umpires, without the benefit of a replay, that he was hit by the pitch, and was awarded first base. So, for drama’s sake, the Clippers had the tying runs on base with Portsmouth’s cleanup hitter at the plate. Timm Kutzer grounded the first pitch he saw back to Hujsak on the hill, and he returned the favor, starting a perfectly executed 1-6-3 double play to end the ballgame. Goffstown held on to win it, 7-5. The win pushes the Grizzlies to 3-5 on the season, while Portsmouth drops to 6-2.
Goffstown travels to Bedford on Friday at 4:00 pm for a battle on Nashua Road. Thank you to Adam McCune at Goffstown TV for the instant highlight!