Div 1 Semi Finals Set

Didn't see Timberlane getting in there... 3 out of 4 picks in the semis not bad. Today's action

Boys Baseball - Division I Tournament
Nashua North 5
Manchester Central 0

Winnacunnet 4
Timberlane Regional 7

Keene 5
Concord 7

Dover 0
Salem 1


Still calling a Salem v North showdown with North prevailing.

Out of these I can see North having trouble with the Timberlane pitcher, but North's pitching is waaaaay too much for Timberlane.
NORTH vs....
SALEM
The second game is tougher to call. Salem is being coached by the best coach left standing and he has his team focused. Concord has Dionne going, who is strong. This will be a very close game with Salem pulling it out in the later innings.

The final game will go to Salem. While North has it all on paper, Salem is at home in the playoffs and have the bats to counter-act the arms of North. I think North will fold when presented with a real challenge (which Salem will give them).

I am with you nhball9 - I see it the same way - the final game will be a nail biter the whole way but in the end Salem will find a way to get it done

North will win it all.

Even IF Salem gets by Concord their pitching is not enough to stop North. Yes, Salem is a good hitting team, but so is Concord and Concord will be able to get enough hits and runs to beat Salem.

North will win the rematch against Concord.

I guess we will see soon enough - don't underestimate their pitching as evidenced by the performance of Breen today - he has always been that good but simply was behind Poore and Peters - there are others that will throw a good game - Loguidice is coming back as well. North can win if they play their game - if they don't or get over-confident that will be trouble for them. It will be great to see this all unfold for sure and will certainly be fuel for the forum.

FullCount wrote:I guess we will see soon enough - don't underestimate their pitching as evidenced by the performance of Breen today - he has always been that good but simply was behind Poore and Peters - there are others that will throw a good game - Loguidice is coming back as well. North can win if they play their game - if they don't or get over-confident that will be trouble for them. It will be great to see this all unfold for sure and will certainly be fuel for the forum.

Nick Poore gets a lot of mention, and deservedly so, but if you look at Salem's record, it's clear they have other good pitchers. They wouldn't be the #2 seed otherwise. They have also pulled off some close games so they have shown the ability to bear down and play defense. They can also hit, players like Treff and Morin.

I think North is very similar to Salem in this regard. In addition to Kyle Turner, North has other strong arms in Jake Mellin, Connor Root, and Matt Lipkind. North has also played some great defensive games and won low-score affairs like Salem.

Regarding the over-confidence, Coach Henderson does a pretty good job by keeping the egos in check. The boys pushed the Trinity game out of their minds and broke down today's game inning by inning. I don't expect this pattern to change. Although they won today, they all know that nothing is won yet. And I'm sure, Concord, Salem, and Timberlane have the same attitude.

Some more good baseball still yet to come.

Question to the audience. In year's past the semi-finals were held in the same day at Holman. Does anyone know why things are different this year? I believe Concord and Salem play Thursday and North and Timberlane play Friday.

The synic in me says cash. 2 separate days...2 separate gates.

The funny thing is NHIAA did the exact opposite thing with basketball a few years ago. In basketball the semis were always held on separate nights at Lundholm, usually a Tuesday and Wednesday with the Championship game being on Friday. It was the worst when you drove down for 1 semi game 30 to 80 minutes, waited in line outside the ticket booth just before the start of the game, paid $15 to $25 for a family(when the admission used to be 4 to 6 dollars/person), walked in towards the end of the first quarter and the score was 16 - 4. The game would be over at halftime. That was a bummer.

A few years ago they changed the semis to a one admission doubleheader. To me, it's one of the best things NHIAA has ever done since I've been following HS sports.

As far as this baseball change is concerned..... whether it's timing, money or logistics for NHIAA to change from a 4 and 7 pm doubleheader to different days 4 pm single games, I question why they keep the games at 4 pm. It took every thing I had in my work, time and driving arsenal to make it to the 4 pm BG - Timby game by the 2nd inning. As I was rushing to get down there I thought to myself what a chore it must be for parents to allign their schedules to get to a 4 pm playoff game. If NHIAA changed to 2 days for the 2 semis then the least they could've done was have a later start for both games. They don't have to do a 7 pm start for each because I'm sure they would counter with $$$$ to run the lights at Holman for a 7 pm game. A 5 or 6 pm start would be a happy medium for a start time for parents and relatives who have followed these teams all season and now look forward to watching their teams in the biggest game of the season so far.

Just another head scratcher for the controversial entity known as NHIAA.

The NHIAA doesn't care about parents - it's about the student athletes... and of course making extra $$ off their parents and other supports of the in-season sport.

The downside to a 7PM in Nashua or Manchester start for someone like Keene, Spaulding, Berlin, etc. is the students are getting home after 10PM. I agree a 5-6P start would be much better as long as you know you have lights. As for cost - the NHIAA can always recoup that by charging extra. I have a feeling places like Gill, Holman, Memorial, etc. either come free or cheap since it's a "youth" event. Other places like colleges, verizon center, or whatever they call where the fisher cats play probably charge a reduced fee to use the facility. Perhaps just enough to cover their operating expenses, who knows though because that's all secret. I don't understand why they use that facility anyway... They should continue to use High School fields - so what about playing on that artificial field... Other than those that use Gill how many baseball teams play on artificial surface? It's a very different game. Say nothing of the "cost" to park and the "cost" of concessions - let some local high school booster group benefit from hosting an event...

Totally agree with you on all points JAF.

And so funny because here I am thinking, man I'd love to go catch the Bedford - Portsmouth game, which I feel could be the marquee game of the 4 D1 and D2 semi games. I just checked good ole NHIAA site and the D2 semis are in Concord on Thursday and Friday at 4 pm. The Ports - Bedford game is on Friday. No way I can make it up there until the 3rd or 4th inning at best with a 4 pm start time. Fantastic. One less HS baseball fan that will be at a game that deserves a nice crowd.

At least the Portsmouth and Bedford fans, who can make it for a 4 pm week day start in Concord, will avoid the start of the north going weekend crush at the Hooksett toll booth. I'm sure the NHIAA took this into consideration with their start time logistics

T&F - I understand Portsmouth graduation is Friday, so Coach Hopley is requesting a change of date from NHIAA, which I assume he will be granted. So I doubt Bedford v Portsmouth will be Friday.

Thanks for the information Bulldog. This is the type of information which makes this Forum an important informational source at an important playoff time of year.

It would be great if they moved the Clipper - Bulldog game to Saturday at the Memorial Field in Concord. I'm sure the gate $$$ would be substantially more than a 4 pm game on a Friday.

If NHIAA moves this game to Wednesday at 4 pm...... Well, I'll cross that NHIAA criticizing bridge when I come to it.

T&F, I just heard that Lebanon has graduation Thursday (6pm according to their website), Portsmouth has it Friday, and Bedford has it Saturday. So ... with Lebanon v STA scheduled for Thursday and Bedford v Portsmouth scheduled for Friday, it would seem logical to switch the two games. But we'll see.

Wow, looks like NHIAA will have to use some common sense to figure this logistical scheduling problem out.

As Roger Goodale said a few times at the NFL Draft in April and to para phrase:

"NHIAA is on the clock"

Since when is graduation held on an other day but a Saturday???? Thursday? Really? So we can all go to work the next day?

The last couple of years the Memorial graduation was on a Friday at the Verizon. There was a problem with Memorial booking the V too late. This year the 3 Queen City schools will have their graduation on Saturday June 11th at the V at 9 am 1 pm and 7 pm.

According to the NHIAA brackets today's Salem vs. Concord game has been rescheduled for Monday June 13 at 4:00pm. Apparently due to weather.

See, some people were bashing NHIAA with the chasm of time between the semis and finals. It turns out the NHIAA made scheduling precautions for the record breaking heat with their format