NORWICH — The more unhappy Lebanon High baseball coach Chauncey Wood becomes, the further back on his head he slides his cap.
The boss man’s brim was pointing almost straight up by the end of Thursday’s 16-6 loss to Hanover. The rivals’ NHIAA Division II regular-season finale began with the visiting Raiders taking a five-run lead but ended after six innings when the Bears caused the mercy rule to be invoked.
“We were swinging the bats pretty good,” said Hanover coach John Grainger, whose team held on for a 7-6 victory during the teams’ first meeting this season. “We didn’t have many cheap hits and they struggled with walks and hit batters, which led to some big innings.”
Said Wood: “Our errors threw us off. We’ve got to play better baseball, and we will.”
Hanover and Lebanon’s exact playoff positions remain uncertain. Other teams play on Friday and Saturday and the top two finishers earn a first-round bye, while the next 12 squads begin postseason play on Thursday.
It’s conceivable the Bears, hovering in the sixth spot, and the Raiders, looking like they’ll finish 11th or 12th, could meet again on that date.
Hanover sophomore Jake Toulmin, who entered Thursday with almost twice as many strikeouts as innings pitched, started on the mound but lasted only an inning. The lefthander allowed four hits and five runs, all earned, while striking out two Raiders and walking one.
“If we’d given up those first five runs because of walks and errors, then I’d be upset about it,” Grainger said. “Jake just didn’t have his good stuff today, but this team doesn’t press. We’ve come back from big deficits three or four times this season.”
Hanover (11-4) answered with five runs during its first at-bat and two more during its second. The Bears touched Lebanon starter Sid Wallace for four hits and seven runs, only four of them earned. The senior right-hander struck out one batter, walked three, hit one and was pulled after two innings.
The Bears broke the game open by scoring five runs during the fourth inning off reliever Sam Bates. The junior surrendered six hits and six runs, all earned, while striking out one batter, walking three and hitting one. Hanover finished with 13 hits and drew eight walks. Each team committed three errors.
Bears reliever Wes Stocken allowed one hit and one earned run while striking out eight batters, walking two and hitting an opponent. It was an effective and poised outing for a senior prone to emotional struggle during the past two seasons.
“We’ve played much better defense down the stretch,” Grainger said. “We hit the ball, and we don’t give up very many runs. Our pitching is deep, but we don’t have that shutdown guy. So that’s a question for us the rest of the way.”
Lebanon (7-9), which lost to visiting Souhegan on Wednesday, didn’t use pitching ace Braeden Falzarano on the mound in either contest. The senior hit a grand-slam home run against the Sabers but struck out during each of his four at-bats against the Bears while playing left field.
Wood explained Falzarano’s pitching absence only by saying the standout was “unavailable” for such duty. The coach said his player wasn’t held out because of a pitch-count issue or because of his health.
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.