Written by In a game which saw 19 runs scored, of which only 8 were earned, there was a big comeback and some clutch hitting and pitching. Poor luck starter, Myles Green allowed 6 runs, all unearned, in the second inning, when 4 of the first 6 Blue Devils reached on errors in the infield. Goffstown trailed 6-1, and then 9-5 in the fourth, before coming back to win it, 10-9.
Goffstown jumped to a 1-0 lead after Connor Hujsak singled, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a Will Soucy single. Goffstown started Myles Green, who pitches to contact, should be a fielder’s dream. Early in this one though, it was more like a nightmare. Salem started the second inning with six straight batters reaching in this fashion. Jake Champagne, error on shortstop, Connor Hujsak. Cooper Ribaudo, single to center field. Ryan Allard, error on Hujsak. Tom Dion, throwing error on the catcher, Liam Kilbreth. Trevor Deminico, single to left field. Brandon Wall, error on second baseman, Clay Campbell. All six of these batters scored in the inning. Suddenly the Grizzlies were down 6-1.
Goffstown got a run back in the second inning after Cam Kozak led off, and reached on an error by the third baseman, Cooper Ribaudo. Kozak advanced to second base on a single by Myles Green. Then he went to third on Liam Kilbreth’s walk. Connor Hujsak batted with the bases loaded but grounded a fielder’s choice to shortstop, which allowed Kozak to score in exchange for the out. Goffstown trailed 6-2 after two.
Salem went down 1-2-3 in the third. Goffstown cut the lead to one run, trailing 6-5, after three innings. Will Soucy led off with a walk. Salem made a pitching change, but Jared Heidenreich also walked. Then Kozak reached on an error committed by Ryan Allard at shortstop. With the bases loaded and one out, Liam Kilbreth hit a high fastball on an 0-2 pitch into the right-center field gap for a 2-run double. Cam Kozak trotted home on a ground out to the right side by Ben Dodge. Salem led 6-5 after three.
In the fourth inning, the momentum swung immediately back to Salem when Brandon Wall walked and scored on Nick Robertson’s double to the left field corner and a misplay by Bob Doherty in left field. Noah Poulin singled but Robertson had to hold at third. Robertson then scored on a passed ball by Liam Kilbreth. Noah Poulin came around to score on Cooper Ribaudo’s sacrifice fly to right fielder Ben Dodge. Salem led 9-5 after 3 and 1/2 innings.
In the bottom of the 4th inning, Goffstown got a single from Soucy, another walk to Heidenreich, a single from Kozak, and a walk to Kilbreth. The one run they scored was actually on a wild pitch allowing Heidenreich to trot home. 9-6, Salem.
Riley Belleau got the last two outs of the fourth inning on the mound for the Grizzlies. He then proceeded to pitch 3 more scoreless innings while not allowing a hit and just 2 walks. It was an outstanding performance out of the bullpen and his efforts gave Goffstown a chance to get back in the game.
Goffstown cut the lead to 9-7 in the fifth inning when Connor Hujsak lined a home run just to the right of center field. Salem, 9-7. The bottom of the sixth inning started with the ever dreadful leadoff walk in favor of the Grizzlies. Heidenreich received the walk, his third of the game. You guessed it, Cam Kozak reached on an error by the shortstop. Belleau bounced out in front of the plate, 2-3, but it moved both runners into scoring position. Then Kilbreth hit an infield single to deep shortstop which knocked Heidenreich in. On the play, Ryan Allard threw to first, way late, and way wide, trying to get Kilbreth. The ball got by Kyle Moniz at first base and Kozak scored with Kilbreth moving to second base. Ben Dodge bunted Kilbreth to third before Connor Hujsak collected his third, his third RBI, and game-winning RBI with a single to left field. Goffstown now led, 10-9.
Belleau walked Brandon Wall to start the seventh inning. Then he got a pop-up, a fly out, and a game-ending pop up that he caught himself to secure the victory.
Goffstown improved to 4-6 on the season and will play at Nashua North tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 pm. Salem dropped to 0-9.