D2 Baseball Playoffs

Congrats to Portsmouth. They are such a great team. Keegan Taylor pitched another great game, as did Joey Maher. But the difference was defense. Portsmouth's defense was excellent, making every play, including many difficult chances. Good plate discipline against Maher. Excellent coaching. I guess that's how you win 82 games in a row over 4 years.

Unfortunately, Bedford's defense made too many mistakes, including the inability to cover the bunt 3 straight at bats in the 5th after Portsmouth got the leadoff man on with a 1-0 lead. That led to 2 unearned runs, and a 3-0 lead. Defense has been Bedford's weakness all year, costing us 2 games during the season, and this one today. We overcame defensive mistakes in the first 2 rounds, but you can't make those kinds of mistakes against Portsmouth.

Good luck to Portsmouth and St. Thomas next Saturday.

Good luck to the Bedford seniors. We lose 6 starters from our senior class to graduation, all of whom made all state ... Joey Maher, Lucas Olen, Zach Husband, Mike Skilton, Justin Walsh, and Nate Harrington. I wish them all the best as they head off to college. Next year is going to be tough for Bedford without them in the line up.

"Next year is going to be tough for Bedford without them in the line up."

Too bad the coach isn't going off to college with them. - seriously though, my son told me that they did not practice any bunt coverages for the entire week they had to prepare for this game. Its a shame Bedford doesn't have a baseball guy in the position of head baseball coach. Talent will only get you so far - Coaching makes all the difference in the world.

Portsmouth came prepared to win, executed and played flawlessy. Hats off to them and their coach.

Coaching and good pre-game preparation is very important, no doubt about it. Also, there is no substitute for big game experience & the kids from Portsmouth have more of it than any other baseball team in the state.

agreed - I would say that every game for them this year was a "big game" with that record in sight. Truly an incredible streak. I bet St Thomas will be prepared - they seem well coached.

STA & Portsmouth represent the two ends of the spectrum when it comes to HS athletics here in NH. Portsmouth represents the old way if you will. They have a local feeder program in baseball that has been 2nd to none over the past decade. Most of these kids have played in multiple state title games since they were 9 yrs old. That is the experience that I was referring to, not just the current streak. Many of the current players had older brothers that won state titles and remember this current team is made up of guys who went to the LL World Series. Playing very well in the biggest games has become a culture in baseball in Portsmouth.

STA is the other side - the private school that has to meld a working team from players who come from many different communities. What has helped lately is that the team has over the past 3 or 4 years been made up of many guys who played together in AAU. Also right now their ace on the mound is the guy who led that Portsmouth team to Williamsport.

Imagine just how good that Portsmouth team would be if Bean was pitching for them!

There is one inescapable fact though, since Portsmouth & STA have been in the same division, STA has never beaten them.

JT_nh_hs_fan wrote:

There is one inescapable fact though, since Portsmouth & STA have been in the same division, STA has never beaten them.

But wait. That can be said about most teams in D2. I'm curious. What is Portsmouth's record since dropping down to D2, and who were the teams that beat them?

They have only lost 3 games since moving to Class I/Division 2, all in 2007. Hollis-Brookline beat them twice, including their last loss in the '07 state quarter-finals.

The other loss was was a 5-4 defeat at the hands of Pelham.

My point about STA not beating them was more about the fact that over the past 3 seasons, STA was considered to have a team that should have beaten them and more than once. They just can't seem to get the job done. I wish them good luck on Sat.

8 baseball teams left playing, and three of them from the seacoast. If Somersworth can win, the seacoast area will have half of the baseball state titles this season.

JT_nh_hs_fan wrote:My point about STA not beating them was more about the fact that over the past 3 seasons, STA was considered to have a team that should have beaten them and more than once. They just can't seem to get the job done. I wish them good luck on Sat.

Point well taken, JT. In 2009, STA was the 2 seed and lost only 3 games, all to Portsmouth, including the championship game. Last year they were the 2 seed, and lost 3 games, 1 to Portsmouth and 2 to Bedford. This year they are back to the ship against Portsmouth. Pretty amazing. And I believe they only have 2 seniors this year, so next year they should be very tough again (although losing Pete Mucher to graduation is a big loss).

I was just curious about the 2007 season, when they first moved down to D2. I seem to remember they were the 1 seed that year. Thanks for the info.

BHS Bulldog Dad

Yes they were the #1 seed. They lost to Hollis in a game that was suspended due to rain. The delay forced both teams to change pitchers. That along with a a two minute stretch of bad play in the field opened the door for the Cavaliers and they took advantage of it. Here is a link to the story in Fosters on that game.

http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070604/GJSPORTS_01/106040175

H-B went on to win to the Class I title.