CONCORD — The school bus chugged up Fruit Street on Wednesday night and hung a wide right onto Pleasant, its interior illuminated by the waving flashlight settings of a couple dozen smart phones.
The bulky vehicle bounced and swayed as its passengers, members of the Hollis-Brookline High baseball team, leapt about inside. From the lowered windows boomed the song “Levitation” by Dua Lipa and Da Baby.
I got you moonlight, you’re my starlight
I need you all night, come on, dance with me
I’m levitating
The top-seeded Cavaliers had just left Hanover firmly grounded, pinning a 10-1 defeat on the fifth-seeded Bears (12-5) during an NHIAA Division II semifinal at Memorial Field.
Hanover rallied for a 1-1 tie during the second inning but a disputed call went against the Bears a minute later and it was all Hollis-Brookline from there. The Cavaliers (17-1) will face second-seeded St. Thomas (16-4), which beat third-seeded Souhegan (15-6), by a 1-0 score during the day’s other semifinal.
“What are you going to do?” said Hanover coach John Grainger, who started ace Sam Sacerdote on the mound. “It wasn’t like we committed mental mistakes and we only had one error.”
Hanover’s half of the second inning was pivotal. Josh Bucci drew a one-out walk, moving to second base on a wild pitch. Casey Graham followed with a run-scoring double and Wes Stocken was hit by a pitch. Joe Davis then belted his own double, but Graham was thrown out at home.
Bears fans felt the diving senior had clearly reached his hand across the plate before being tagged on the back, but the umpire, who set up behind the catcher to watch the play, ruled otherwise.
“That was huge,” Grainger said. “We would have had runners on first and second and been up by a run with one out. That changes the game.”
Grainger believed that had the call gone Hanover’s way, the Bears would have soon chased Cavaliers starter Jack Lager and forced the daylight use of standout reliever Padge MacSeain.
Instead, the Bears had to face MacSeain during the final four innings and under Memorial Field’s oddly-aimed lighting. The park, which opened in 1936 and was renovated in 1999, has bright illumination for the outfield but the plate area is in shadow.
“These lights are not good for baseball,” Grainger said, pointing upward. “Most of the towers aren’t anywhere near home plate and one that is has (bulbs) out.”
Hollis-Brookline, which beat Hanover, 6-2, in Norwich early last month, went up, 3-1, during its half of Wednesday’s second inning. Bears pitching starter Sam Sacerdote struck out three Cavaliers in the frame but surrendered three singles and a double.
When third baseman Jack McBride couldn’t handle a hot shot to begin Hollis-Brookline’s next at-bat, Grainger replaced his ace with right fielder Stocken.
“They were hitting Sam hard, just on top of him, so I figured my best shot was to change it up and throw West and his (off-speed pitches),” Grainger said. “Sam’s pitches seemed to get too much of the plate when he was ahead in the count. He’d throw two good pitches and then a fastball up in the zone would get hit hard.”
Stocken induced airborne outs from the first two batters he faced but the Cavaliers’ next seven batters reached base.
With the score now 8-1, Grainger brought in Jake Toulmin to replace Stocken, who allowed three hits and four runs, one earned, during ⅔ of an inning’s work. He struck out one Cavalier and walked one.
Toulmin went two innings, surrendering three hits and two runs, both earned, while striking out two batters and walking none.
Trevor Pierce pitched the final 1⅓ innings, giving up one hit and no runs while striking out one foe and walking one.
Hanover finished with four hits, two from No. 8 batter Davis, who led a roster of more-touted names in batting average this season at .379.
“Our pitching wasn’t there today,” Grainger said. “You can’t give up 14 hits and not have pitching be a problem. We hit when the game was close and the pressure was on, but not after that.”
Notes: MacSeain, who began the game in center field, had three hits, an RBI, a stolen base and scored three times… Hanover beat St. Thomas and Souhegan during the regular season… Sacerdote threw 48 pitches, 35 for strikes. Stocken was 36-18, Toulmin 41-28 and Pierce 15-9… Toulmin said he’s pitching for the Concord Cannons organization this summer… Hanover boys soccer coach Rob Grabill attended and kept score in a book that included Red Sox games dating back to 2013… Also watching was Lebanon American Legion Post 22 baseball director Pete St. Pierre. The Post’s senior team is short numbers in advance of next week’s opener, St. Pierre said, noting he’s open to hearing from any other players interested in suiting up.
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.