Souhegan first baseman Dylan Dufour fields a throw as St. Thomas baserunner Timmy Avery gets back to first during Wednesday's Division II semifinals in Concord. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

CONCORD – There won’t be a Division II baseball all-area final on Saturday, unfortunately.

The top seeded Hollis Brookline Cavaliers kept up their end of the bargain, routing No. 5 Hanover, 10-1 thanks to a 14-hit attack. However, the fly in the ointment was the pitching of the No. 2 St. Thomas, which blanked No. 3 Souhegan 1-0, both games at Warren Doane Field.

The Cavs are the lone area baseball team left as Wilton-Lyndeborough also fell in the Division IV semifinals, this time in walk-off fashion 8-7 in eight innings at the hands of Newmarket at Robbie Mills Park in Laconia.

As always, one team’s joy was another one’s pain.

“It feels great,” Cavs coach Jay Sartell said of his 17-1 team reaching the finals, which are at 7 p.m. at Manchester’s Northeast Delta Dental Stadium. “I’m happy to see the hard work payoff for these guys.”

Souhegan coach Chris Metz was just as proud of his team, which was checked on four hits by the Saints lefty duo of starter Sam Grondin and reliever Connor Toriello and it ruined a solid performance by Saber starter Keegan Burke.

“As a coaching staff, we can’t ask for any more than what they gave us,” Metz said. “They’ve done everything I’ve asked them to do.”

In the Cavaliers win, the Divison II Player of the Year, Padge Mac Seain threw four innings of scoreless relief, allowing just two hits while fanning six and walking one. Jack Lager started and gave the Cavs three solid innings (one run on two hits).

Mac Seain also went 3 for 4 at the plate with an RBI, while Paul Vachon went 2 for 4 with two RBIs, giving him four for the tourney so far.

HB got a run in the first on a Vachon fielder’s choice, two in the second on RBI singles by Gavin Knudsen and Aiden Dufoe, and then blew it open in the third with five runs, with RBIs by Eoin Sheehy, MacSeain, Dufoe, Torin White and Vachon.

Sam Sacerdote took the loss for the Bears (13-5), lasting just two innings giving up four runs on seven hits.

“Our pitching wasn’t there today,” Hanover coach John Grainger said. “You can’t giv up 14 hits and ot have pitching be a problem. We hit when the game was close and the pressure was on, but not after that.”

Hanover’s lone run came in the second on Casey Graham’s RBI double, but he was thrown out at the plate on a close play.

“That was huge,” Grainger said. “That changes the game.”

ONE RUN ENOUGH FOR SAINTS

In the first game, the Saints scored the game’s only run in the first inning when Greg Spagna led off with a single and Timmy Avery walked. Spagna advanced to third on a fielder’s choice and scored on Jack La Couture’s RBI single past third.

Burke struck out seven and only gave up five hits, walking two. He pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the fourth, and left in favor of reliever Kyan Bagshaw after Avery led off the sixth with a double. Later in the inning, Avery was picked off third trying to read a wild pitch. That and a sparkling defensive play by Saber second baseman Matt Silk helped to keep it a one-run game.

But the Saber bats simply couldn’t get anything going. Their best chances were with runners at first and third with two out in the third and first and second with two out in the fourth. Empty both times. Nolan Colby was the only Saber to reach as often as twice.

“They threw well, it was a pitching duel,” Metz said. “It was a great baseball game. Like I said, the guys gave us everything we asked for and more.”

Hollis Brookline infielder Gavin Knudsen makes a throw to first during the Cavs’ 10-1 Division II semifinal win over Hanover Wednesday in Concord. (Courtesy photo by Robert Knudsen)

“Sam and Connor both brough their ‘A’ game, they’ve both been leaders for us all year,” Saints coach Connor Cross said. “To bring it like that and shut that offense out is an incredible job by them.”

St. Thomas, which lost to HB 4-1 back on May 25, never let the Sabers grab momentum.

“There’ve been a couple of games this year we’ve lost when we’ve been in that comeback situation, when we’ve been fighting,” Cross said, “and hadn’t been able to momentum back. To be able to fight it off like that is incredible.”

They’ll try to seize momentum Saturday night, but the Cavs will certainly have a lot to say about that, seeking their first Division II crown since 2007. They were last in the finals in 2019, losing to Bow 5-4 in Sartell’s first season as head coach.

WARRIORS LOSE HEARTBREAKER

The upstart No. 9 Wilton-Lyndeborough Warriors came back twice against No. 4 Newmarket but fell short. WLC trailed 4-3 and 7-4 but tied it each time, the latter with three runs in the fifth.

The Warriors (12-7) left the bases loaded in the top of the eighth, and Newmarket made them pay in the bottom half. Hunter Scales had three hits while Joe Krug threw out a runner at home from center in the bottom of the fifth to keep the game tied.

Newmarket (14-5) will face No. 3 Sunapee in the finals Saturday at 1 p.m. in Manchester.

(Information provided by the Valley News was also used in this report.)