WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — The Upper Valley Nighthawks are a first-place ballclub in the New England Collegiate Baseball League.
Dan Bolt opened the Nighthawks’ first at-bat with a home run and three pitchers combined on a six-hit shutout in Sunday’s 5-0 blanking of the Valley Blue Sox at the Maxfield Sports Complex. The win moved Upper Valley into a three-way tie for the NECBL’s Northern Division lead with North Adams (a 7-3 loser to Martha’s Vineyard on Sunday) and Vermont (a 4-1 winner over Sanford on Sunday), all with identical 11-7 records.
The night started with five teams crammed within two games of the division’s lead. Upper Valley made its argument for inclusion with its fourth shutout of the season.
Will Carnley (Troy) threw four-hit ball over seven innings, fanning seven against two walks. Skyler Pichardo (Marist) worked out of a two-on jam in the eighth, and Aaron Haase (Wichita State) struck out two in a scoreless ninth.
Bolt’s blast, coming on a 1-0 pitch from Valley starter Will Lozniak, prefaced a two-run first for the Nighthawks. Jack Zyska (Notre Dame) had a 3-for-4 day with a run scored for Upper Valley, and Gehrig Anglin (Wright State) added two of the Hawks’ 10 hits.
Upper Valley gets Monday off and visits Winnipesaukee on Tuesday at 6:05 p.m.
LACONIA, N.H. — Lebanon Post 22 erased a 3-1 deficit on Friday night en route to a New Hampshire Senior District A win over Laconia Post 1 at Memorial Field.
Post 22 (3-1 league, 4-1 overall) used a two-run fourth inning to complete its comeback, then scored four times in the seventh to put the game away. Derek Griffin went six innings for the win, surrendering just three hits, and Trey Parker threw a clean seventh with two strikeouts to close it out.
Parker, Kegan Silovich and Kobe Benoit all had two hits to lead Lebanon’s nine-hit assault.
Post 22 visits Keene at Walpole’s Hubbard Field on Tuesday, then turns around to host Post 4 in a 3 p.m. doubleheader at Lebanon High School on Friday.