Nashua South's Devin Sawyer tags out Pinkerton's Cole Yennaco at third during the Astros' 2-1 win in 10 innings atHolman Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – There was a great crowd, a tournament like atmosphere.

Of all the things they could have done late Saturday afternoon, the fans at Holman Stadium made the right choice.

Yes, the Nashua High School South baseball team felt the disappointment of a tough 2-1, 10-inning loss to the Pinkerton Academy Astros, but couldn’t deny that they played in a game they likely won’t forget for all the right reasons.

“I’ve been coaching here at one level or another for the better part of 16 years,” South coach James Gaj said, “and that was the best baseball game I’ve ever been a part of.”

But a tough one to lose. The Panthers (4-2) had survived Astros lefty ace Liam Doyle and his other worldly 17 strikeouts, but they just couldn’t muster enough offense once Doyle exited after sevin innings.

“It would have definitely set a tone,” Gaj said, talking about a possible win. “But these guys sat here and proved they can go with the best of the best. That’s probably the best or second best pitcher in the state, and we went toe-to-toe with him, and it shows where we stand right now.”

One would’ve expected Doyle to beat the Panthers with his arm, but it was his bat that ultimately did the trick as with the bases loaded , one out and the infield in in the bottom of the 10th, he hit a bullet off the glove of South’s Albert De La Rosa that plated the winning run for the walk-off. The 6-0 Astros were the home team as the contest was part of a four-game extravaganza at Holman sponsored by Adrenalin Fundraising.

“That’s the risk you take when you bring the infield in,” Gaj said. “Shots get a little quicker.”

“You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do sometimes,” Doyle said. “We’ve hit well all year as a team … I missed my first fastball, with two strikes I was just trying to put the ball in play, make them make a play.”

It was a showcase of Doyle, headed to Coastal Carolina next year, and De La Rosa, the Panthers’ prize shortstop who has an outside chance to be plucked in the late rounds of the mid-summer MLB draft. De La Rosa had two errors for a tough day in the field, but he made up for them with a rope home run into the left field picnic area off a 2-2 Doyle offering in the top of the sixth for a 1-0 South lead after it seemed Doyle was unhittable.

However, 6-foot-7 Astros outfielder Jackson Marshall hit a Nolan Mederos pitch high over the left field billboards to tie things at 1 in the bottom half.

Still, Mederos was another part of the story. South’s ace was only supposed to be used as an opener to preserve him for next week, but he texted Gaj earlier in the day and told he wanted the pitch count shackles taken off and Gaj obliged. Mederos pitched in and out of trouble, and was helped by the fact the Astros ran into three outs at third base. He allowed eight hits over eight innings with four walks (one intentional) a hit batsman and 14 fewer strikeouts than Doyle, but Gaj wouldn’t trade him for Cy Young.

“I trusted him and he showed me,” Gaj said. “I put him up there with one of the best pitchers in the state.”

“That’s a very good Nashua South team,” Astros coach Steve Campo said. “They’re going to do some damage throughout the season. I thought Liam kept us in the game early, we hit pretty well but we just couldn’t get that big hit early on. When in a high school game do you see a home run in the top half and then a home run in the bottom half to tie it up?”

That was one of a couple of examples on how the baseball gods just weren’t smiling enough on the Panthers. In the top of the 10th, with runners on first and third, Astros reliever Max Lukeman uncorked a wild pitch that many would expect South runner Devin Sawyer to score on. But Sawyer slipped two steps into his start to home and had to hold up.

Then, in the bottom half of the inning, with one out South right fielder Leo Kopiko looked as if he had made a great running catch near the foul line, but the ball popped out of his glove at the last second and Astro Thomas Rioux ended up at third.

“That was tough,” Gaj said. “It was a long run and we played the right center gap all day. It was a hard ball for him to get.”

Gaj gave the next two hitters intentional passes to set up a force at home, but Doyle then hit his shot off new rival De La Rosa.

“It’s tough,” Gaj said. “We traded knockout punches back and forth. It was a great game.”

Great for April, and it could be even better in June.

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