Corey O'Day, left, picked up the win with six superb innings on the mound, and Kyle Lavigne, right, paced the offense with an RBI single and a two-run base hit as Nashua Coffey Post beat Concord on Friday, 5-2, in the opener at the American Legion Baseball State Championship Tournament.

NASHUA – As stabilizing as Friday’s tourney-opening win may have been for Nashua’s Coffey Post 3, all the tidy 5-2 decision over Concord Post 21 did was assure that the host team would be around to play on Sunday.

Nashua has much more grandiose plans and plenty more to do.

“Especially in a double elimination tournament, everyone knows that first one is huge,” said coach Tim Lunn, whose club will play at 4 p.m. on Saturday here at Holman Stadium in a winners bracket battle against Portsmouth.

“The losers’ bracket is always a gauntlet, so this helps, but there is still a long way to go.”

The defending champs (2019) were all business on Friday morning – prepped and ready for the rare 10 a.m. start – behind an efficient 75-pitch performance from Corey O’Day.

Dinged for a run in the top of the first, the Nashua North product pretty much slammed the door over the next five frames, at one point sitting down 13 of 17 Concord hitters he faced.

“Nice, calm and cool, just come in, do the job, get it done,” said O’Day of his mentality on the hill. “I settled in. It didn’t really faze me (when Concord scored in the first). You have to adjust. I adjusted. I had to locate a little better.

“I was mostly pounding fastballs today, just making them hit it and making the defense work.”

O’Day allowed six hits without walking a batter. He fanned a pair.

“He didn’t have his strikeout stuff, but he competed,” said Lunn. “He was ahead in counts. I want to say it was like 60-something percent of the time. That’s what you need to do to be successful. Our defense has been solid behind him. He got ahead, trusted his defense to make the plays and he gave us the chance to win.”

Concord came out hacking and picked up the first run of the 2021 State Legion Championships with a Kevin McDonough RBI double. But O’Day wiggled out of damage, and the Coffey Post lineup responded.

Derek Finlay started things with a slice single to right, and Isaac Zhang sent one right back up the middle. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch.

Third baseman Jake Mitchell then tied things with a deep fly to center, followed by a sharp single from Kyle Lavigne that made it 2-1.

“Offense came in, collected a bunch of hits and scored runs when we needed to.

“I think as soon as we got in there on offense, we know we are an offensive oriented team,” said Lavigne. “We can swing the bats well and we can hit balls hard. Putting up two after they only put up one was helpful. It helped the boys cool down and relax and just play good baseball.”

The lead ballooned to 5-1 in the second.

Catcher Ryan Bourgeois was plunked by a pitch and Hayden Shattuck reached on an errant throw to first that sent Bourgeois to third.

Bourgeois would score what proved to be the game-winner on Finlay’s RBI grounder.

A flyout, a walk and a passed ball later, Lavigne broke it open with the at-bat of the morning.

The first baseman from Bedford (Bishop Guertin) rifled a two-strike, two-out, two-run single to center.

“My approach is always hunt fastball, hunt fastball away,” said Lavigne. “He threw me two curve balls before, and I was able to adjust.”

Nashua would not have another hit in the game, but playoff baseball is about pitching and timely hitting.

And Lavigne and Co. were on-point when it mattered most.

“The bats came and answered big time. I couldn’t ask for a better answer than that,” said Lunn, noting that the hosts hit a bit of tough luck later in the game. “We swung the bats really well.”

From there, it was about O’Day and the defense, especially in the middle where second baseman Drew Gryniewicz and Finlay, at short, spun one of the prettiest double-plays you’ll ever see at this level.

“It’s a great feeling as a pitcher when the defense can back you up like that,” said right-hander.

O’Day would allow an unearned run in the sixth before Hollis Brookline’s Charlie Hale came on to close things out with a hit-free, yet adventurous seventh.

“It’s one of those things. All year I’ve tried to keep guys under 80 pitches,” said Lunn. “It’s something we’re used to doing. It’s also something we did two years ago when we pulled Brett (Anderson) right at that 80 mark in the middle of an at-bat for just that purpose.

“I have to have faith on the other guys on the team to do their job, and that’s what Charlie did.”

O’Day would now again be eligible to hit the mound in Tuesday’s final, if Coffey Post is fortunate enough to get there. First things first, though.

Lunn was not ready to name a Day 2 starter just yet. He’s got multiple options.

“Still up in the air, kind of a coin flip,” said Lunn. “It could be Isaac (Zhang), it could be Charlie (Hale) coming back, and it could be (Padraig Mac Seain), whoever I think is best for that matchup.”

TOURNEY SCORES, SCHEDULE

All games at Holman Stadium

Friday’s Games

Game 1: Nashua 5, Concord 2

Game 2: Laconia 10, Dover 7

Game 3: Portsmouth 9, Keene 2

Game 4: Exeter 4, Weare 2

Saturday’s Games

10 a.m.: Keene vs. Concord

1 p.m.: Dover vs. Weare

4 p.m.: Nashua vs. Portsmouth

7 p.m.: Laconia vs. Exeter

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