SALEM, N.H. — A minute or so before Sunday’s first pitch between the Lebanon Post 22 American Legion baseball team and Manchester Jutras Post 43, the latter squad gathered around shortstop Stephen Dunham in front of its Michele Park dugout.
“Let’s send these kids home!” Dunham said loudly. “Right now.”
Oops. Turns out Jutras will be the ones needing tickets if they’re to see any more New Hampshire junior state tournament action. Lebanon was shut out during the first inning of the elimination game but scored almost at will thereafter, laying on a 16-0 pounding that ended after five innings via the mercy rule.
“That’s baseball at its finest,” said Post 22 coach Travis Pelletier, whose team plays 2018 state runner-up Nashua Post 124 at 7 p.m. on Monday with a shot at Tuesday’s state title action on the line. “We just kept putting runs on the board, and once we got momentum, we just kept pounding and pounding.
“I think it got to a point where (Jutras) knew there was going to be no letting up on our end.”
Lebanon lost three of four games against its District A rival during the regular season, but this one was lopsided early. Sam Sacerdote, John Carrier and Dawson Bates combined for a no-hitter, Sacerdote needing only 27 pitches to retire the side in order during the first three innings.
Bates, a diminutive rising freshman at Lebanon High, pitched to the final batter and turned away laughing from his catcher, older brother Calvin Bates, before he threw his first pitch.
“I told him to not screw this up, or he’d be hearing about it at home for the rest of his life,” Calvin Bates said.
Jutras (8-11), District A’s runner-up, managed only two baserunners. One reached on a throwing error and the other on a fielder’s choice. Neither advanced past first base and Post 22, District A’s third-place finisher, had only the one defensive miscue.
“That’s the best we’ve played in the field all year,” said Pelletier, the former Rivendell Academy and Kearsarge High coach, now in his fourth Post 22 campaign. “Our kids were ready today, and the early part of the season isn’t what we are now. These guys work hard and want to be here and want to learn.”
Lebanon (8-11), playing as the visiting team, scored two runs in the second inning, five in the third, four in the fourth and five in the fifth. Post 22 piled up 15 hits and took advantage of four Jutras errors.
Post 22’s slick center fielder, Ben Williams, known as “B Willy” to his teammates, drew two walks and belted a run-scoring double to the deepest part of the field. The rising Hanover High freshman has reached base safely in 12 of 15 trips to the plate in three tournament games.
“We’ve clicked at the right time,” said burly Post 22 first baseman Casey Graham, a hockey player for Hanover High during the winter months. “We weren’t as focused and locked in during the regular season. We’re from Hanover and Lebanon, but we’ve really glued into a family now.”
Sacerdote had three hits, and Braeden Falzarano, John Hill, Sean Maddock and Graham each had two. Lebanon has its full complement of pitchers available for Monday with the exception of Falzarano, who went the distance during Saturday’s defeat of Salem Post 63 and is done hurling for the tournament because of pitch-count rules.
“We’re going up against the best of the best at this point,” said Pelletier, whose team finished third in the state last year, its tournament losses coming to Dover and Nashua, which along with Hudson comprise the rest of the current final four field.
“Dover and Nashua are (NHIAA) Division I schools with long baseball traditions, but we’re eager to see them both again.”
Notes: The bus ride to Salem took Post 22 three hours because of an accident on Interstate 93. Pelletier followed the yellow school vehicle in his air-conditioned car. … Ian Hedgepeth, who started at shortstop and moved to third base on Sunday, plays for Hanover High but is home-schooled… Wielding a weighted tamper tool on the mound during the first inning was Sacerdote’s father, Bruce, a Dartmouth economics professor somehow dragooned onto the grounds crew. Jutras starting pitcher Luke Gramatikas had complained about footing on the bump after a pregame storm soaked the diamond.
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.