Baseball: Instant Classic, Grizzlies win at Bedford, 4-3

The sun was shining, for the most part. There were some big, no huge, clouds, but also, sun, shadows, and some blue sky. It was one of the very few truly beautiful days for baseball since the season began. And, in Bedford vs. Goffstown typical baseball rivalry fashion, the game was well played, an instant classic.

Last year it was Division I Bedford at Division II Goffstown on the campus of St. Anselm College. Geoff Mosseau, now playing for St. John’s University was the #1 left-handed pitching prospect in the state of NH last year and he blanked the Grizzlies, 2-0. Grant Lavigne of Bedford was on everyone’s minds as he was only days away from being drafted #42 overall in the 2018 Major League Baseball Draft by the Colorado Rockies. This year, Bedford began the game after winning 8 of their last 9, their only loss in the run, came to Exeter, 3-2. Exeter beat Bedford in the title game last season. As a matter of fact, Bedford and Goffstown both lost their Division Championship games last season. Then again, it’s Bedford against Goffstown in baseball, there is always interest. Parking was at a premium this afternoon as the lot was beyond full over at the SAU. Both teams are battling for position and possible seeding in the upcoming State Tournament.

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The game started a few minutes late but wasted no time in getting anyone paying attention sucked into the rivalry that is Goffstown vs. Bedford in baseball. On the third pitch of the game, Connor Hujsak lined a long home run over the left-center field fence to give the Grizzlies a 1-0 lead. The starting pitchers, Trevor Anibal (BHS) and Clay Campbell (GHS), were both outstanding on the afternoon.

Goffstown got another run in the second inning when Myles Green singled to right field leading off the inning and moved up to second base when Liam Kilbreth worked a one-out walk. Then TJ Dutton hit a slow bouncing ball to shortstop. Ryan Juliano, who is as smooth as they come, had to gamble and try to one-hand the bouncer in order to have any chance of getting an out. The ball eluded his gloved hand and rolled out onto the outfield grass in shallow left. Green was waved home by Coach Lawrence at third base and he scored standing up to give Goffstown a 2-0 lead.

The lead for Goffstown was short lived. In the bottom of the 2nd inning, Campbell ran into trouble with the bottom of Bedford’s lineup. Campbell got Avery Mosseau to strikeout to start the inning. Then Alex Douidi worked a walk. Alex Pantelakos hit a ball off of the last fraction of an inch on his bat that spun and took a left turn on the infield grass for an infield hit. Then the #9 hitter, Juliano blasted a 1-0 pitch to the right-center gap and scored both runners. On the play, Ben Dodge’s relay throw was off the mark and eluded TJ Dutton in the cut-off position which allowed Juliano to reach third base. The miscue proved costly as the next batter, Michael Pratte hit a sacrifice fly to center field and socred Juliano, giving Bedford a 3-2 lead.

Little did we know then, that Campbell would settle down and not allow another hit until the bottom of the 7th inning. Not only that, Clay got through the 3rd inning on 8 pitches, through the 4th inning on 4 pitches, and through the 5th inning on 7 pitches. Absolutely unheard of! His defense welcomed his quick pace and pitches attacking the strike zone. After Juliano’s double, Campbell only allowed 2 baserunners (one on an error) over the next 4 2/3 innings which only took 47 total pitches. Again, absolutely incredible!

In the 3rd inning, Goffstown got another run to tie the game at 3-3. Campbell led off and blooped a double down the left field line. After Doherty popped out, and Will Soucy got an infield single to shortstop, Myles Green pounded an RBI single to center to bring Campbell to the plate. Anibal raised his game and struck out Cam Kozak and Liam Kilbreth to strand a pair of runners on base for the Grizzlies. Trevor Anibal struck out two more batters to start the 4th inning, which gave him 4 consecutive strikeouts. Anibal would get another strikeout to end the 5th inning when Goffstown stranded 2 more runners.

Anibal struck out Kilbreth and Dutton to start the 6th inning, his 9th and 10th K’s of the game. Then Ben Dodge worked a 2-out walk. He stole second base on the next pitch, with Hujsak taking all the way. Kyle Lavigne’s throw to second base was near perfect but it was a foot or two the third base side of the bag which gave Dodge just enough time to grab the base with his hand on a headfirst slide. On the 5th pitch of the at-bat, Hujsak crushed a double to right-center field and Dodge scored. Had Dodge not stolen second base, he would not have scored because Michael Pratte did a great job cutting off Hujsak’s shot and keeping it from going to the fence. That would be Anibal’s last pitch of the day, his 117th pitch. Nick Douidi came on to pitch in relief and struck out Doherty after intentionally walking Campbell, to end the inning.

Bedford hit the ball hard all day. They hit shots to the outfield that led to 10 outs recorded by Grizzlies defenders. All three of them, Doherty, Soucy, and Dodge did a great job. Especially Soucy who made one diving catch to end the 4th inning, and then one of the great diving catches you will ever see, to end the 5th inning. (I take it back, Soucy didn’t “ham it up”. He was spectacular)

Campbell worked around a two-out walk to hold the lead for Goffstown in the 6th inning. Douidi set the Grizzlies down in order in the 7th inning and the game’s outcome hung in the balance with the home team batting last. To make things interesting, Campbell walked the #8 hitter, TJ Crowley to lead off the 7th. Ryan Juliano bunted Crowley over to second base. Then Campbell walked Pratte on four pitches. Zach Fletcher hit a frozen rope into center field on an 0-2 pitch to load the bases for Bedford with only 1 out. Trevor Anibal who had lined out on a laser to Doherty in left and then been robbed by Soucy’s other-worldly catch somewhere out in left-center field on the edge of County Road was at the plate. On a 2-1 pitch, Anibal hit a hard groundball towards the middle. Hujsak picked it clean, stepped on second base, and threw a strike to Colin Burke at first base for the game-ending double play.

Campbell got his first win of the season, in a 3-hit, complete game gem, against their archrival Bedford, all on his 18th birthday. Outstanding performance against a very good team. Hujsak, Campbell, and Myles Green each had a pair of hits in the win. Goffstown’s defense was tremendous, especially Will Soucy who was running around the outfield and making catches everywhere. At one point he reminded me of the all-time great Bugs Bunny when he seemed to be playing all 3 outfield positions at the same time.

Goffstown improves to 8-7 with the win and hosts Manchester Memorial (8-6) at Lion’s Field in Goffstown tomorrow at 4:30 pm.