Norwich
“We’re out of pitching,” the Marauders’ third-year boss murmured. “Four games in a week will do that to you.”
Sure enough, the visiting Wildcats exploded for six runs during their final at-bat and won the NHIAA Division II game, 15-10, at the Dresden Athletic Fields.
Hanover (10-5) concludes the regular season at Milford (7-8) today but will host a playoff game next week, its first postseason contest under Grainger.
Thursday’s dispiriting loss notwithstanding, things are looking up for a program that was 3-14 two years ago.
“I’m pretty competitive, so it was hard to keep things fun,” recalled Grainger, a former star catcher at Keene State who previously coached Lebanon Post 22’s junior American Legion team and assisted at Colby-Sawyer College. “We lost a lot of one-run games.”
The Marauders have won two such contests this season and another by two runs. They’ve bested second-place Goffstown and third-place John Stark and led fourth-place Plymouth, 6-3, after three frames on Thursday.
The hosts trailed, 9-6, in the fifth frame before scoring four runs during its bottom half. By then, however, Grainger and his fifth-place squad were grasping at straws when it came to pitching.
Hanover started Joey Perras on the hill and was hoping for six or seven innings from the sophomore. However, he exited after three-plus frames and was charged with nine hits and seven runs, all earned. Senior Marcus Hampers followed with three innings of one-hit relief, impressive for a junior who took the mound for only the fourth time in his high school career.
Senior David Lehmann came on for 18 pitches but that was all, as he’s scheduled to hurl today. Aris Rassias recorded the last two outs.
“Joey’s pitched really well, so we banked on him delivering good baseball,” Grainger said. “He just looked tired. I was happy to see us rally, but in the playoffs, when we have our best players rested, this is a different game.”
Said first baseman Braxton McNulty: “We showed resilience, but when you have to come back like that, it takes an emotional toll. By the end, we just let the game slip.”
Hanover had six of its first seven games rescheduled because of poor weather and/or field conditions, and Grainger said its home site didn’t truly dry until about 10 days ago. That’s forced his team into four- and five-game weeks and decimated its pitching staff. NHIAA rules limit how often a player can pitch, depending on when and how many pitches they threw.
Still, that’s a small challenge compared to what Grainger and this year’s seniors faced when they first got together during 2015. Hanover, which was previously guided for more than 20 years by Mike Jackson, won its first three games that season and then lost its last 14. The Marauders has so much trouble in the field that Grainger had to focus practices almost exclusively on defense.
“I told them we weren’t going to hit anymore until we played an error-free game,” he recalled on Thursday, perhaps a bit tongue-in-cheek.
“And it took quite a few games,” interjected nearby senior center fielder Charlie Goodrich. The Norwich resident batted .103 that season, one of three regulars who finished below .170.
Now? Goodrich is batting better than .450 and might earn first-team all-state honors. He’s one of five senior starters for Hanover, which has never won a state title despite the program’s lengthy history. The Marauders were runners-up in 2005.
“In the past, we would look at a good team and be defeated before we even played,” said Grainger, whose team was 7-9 last season. “Now, we don’t even care who’s pitching for the other guys. It’s all about confidence.”
Hanover’s Lehmann, Hampers and Jack Loftus each had two of the hosts’ 11 hits. Loftus had a double and two RBIs, and Celaya had a hit and two RBIs but also committed a fielding error and a throwing miscue.
Notes: Plymouth (13-3) twice executed successful suicide squeeze bunts. … Goodrich leaves this summer to begin studies at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. Rassias and Hampers are headed to Union (N.Y.) College, Lehmann plans to attend Colgate, McNulty’s going to Wake Forest University in North Carolina and Celaya is headed to Maine’s Colby College.… Grainger is the fitness and personal training director at the Upper Valley Aquatic Club. … Thanks to fundraising, Hanover’s home dugout features a $1,000 stereo system and the mound and home plate area are regularly repaired with high-grade clay. There are hopes for increased bleacher seating in the future.
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com or 603-727-3227.