Nashua infielder Max Demers holds the tag on Merrimack's Daniel Lavigne on a steal attempt in the first inning of Wednesday's Division I clash at Holman Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Bases loaded, nobody out, last inning, lead to protect.

No problem.

After all, Nashua South pitcher Brendon Doughty has been there before.

Doughty again seamlessly got out of it with two strikeouts and a foul pop as the Panthers got an important 3-1 win over Merrimack at sun splashed Holman Stadium on Wednesday.

Doughty faced an identical situation nearly two weeks ago vs. Nashua North, and that time, as a starter, he got two outs before Jacoby Caissie recorded the final out unscathed.

This time, Doughty was in his second inning of relief, basically a bullpen day for the Panthers’ ace lefty starter. Two infield hits by Merrimack’s Evan Sousa and Zach Retey with a walk to Liam Aubut in between created an unforeseen problem. But Doughty struck out Jaden Gallano on a 3-2 pitch, caught Brogan Matte looking and induced Daniel Lavigne to pop out to South catcher Jack Ninteau to the right side in foul territory. No muss, no fuss, no harm, no foul.

“Honestly, I had a little bit of a flashback to the Battle of the Bridge,” Doughty said. “But just the confidence in the team and the confidence I have in myself to make all the pitches I need to make.”

And he did just that, allowing the Panthers to improve to 7-8, probably needing an eighth win in their last four to make the Division I tourney.They hope to get it Saturday here vs. Portsmouth.

“We’re trying to go for teams around us in the standings so nobody catches us,” South coach James Gaj said of the playoff push. “We were geared toward today and Saturday. Those are the must wins. The plan this week is to get three out of four. We’ve got two.

“Usually eight wins gets you in the tournament, we’re at seven. We get eight the rest is gravy.”

Which explains, in a close, competitive game, why Gaj went with Doughty out of the pen for two innings after starter Aidan O’Connor and the defense behind him held the Tomahawks to one run.

“I told him when I got back to the (postgame) huddle, ‘What, are you bored, you have to go do things like that?,” Gaj joked. “He’s not (usually) coming out and closing, it was a little bit of a different mindset.”

Unfortunately for the Tomahawks (4-11), while Doughty is used to successfully walking the tightrope, the end result in the seventh was something they’ve been used to as well.

“Non existent,” Merrimack coach Mike Dudash said of his team’s offense/clutch hitting. “I think that’s our sixth (time) we’ve scored one run in a game, and we’ve been shut out five times. So you’re talking 11 games we’ve scored six runs. Lack of run production is hurting us.”

Actually it’s 10, five and five, but the ‘Hawks have Bedford, Nashua North and Salem left to try to have even a hope of making the tournament.

Nashua jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first off Merrimack’s Kyle Brander, who deserved a better fate holding the Panthers to an unearned run over the next five innings. In the first, Ninteau’s triple scored Max Demers, and the catcher later scored on a wild pitch.

Nashua’s only other run came in the fourth when Doughty and Ninteau singled and Doughty scored from third on a throwing error to make it 3-1.

Merrimack had a chance to tie the score in the second off O’Connor. Again with the bases loaded and nobody out,Liam Aubut plated a run with an RBI groundout. The next hitter, Zach Retey, hit a fly to right that a charging Caissie caught and fired home on the run to nail the ‘Hawks’ Ian Gagnon at the plate.

The fact Caissie was on the run helped the throw.

“It did, yeah, I was just coming in on the ball, saw the kid tag, and one-hopped it, perfect one hop,” Cassie said. “It was money from there.”

“He’s playing with a lot of confidence right now,” Gaj said. “He’s a senior, and just flipped the switch, saying ‘You know, I only have a week of this left.'”

“I would say he’s definitely an impact player,” Dudash said of Caissie. “What he did in right field, he made that play. We took that chance at home; it’s a chance we have to take when we’re not hitting.”

The ‘Hawks got robbed again in the fourth with two on and nobody out, because besides an O’Connor strikout, Caissie made a diving catch in front of him in right, and third baseman Anderson Tolentino made a great pick of a hot grounder of the bat of Retey to end the threat.

The ball on a throw sails way high over Merrimack third baseman Jaden Gallano, and that allowed South’s Brendon Doughty (2) to score during Wednesday’s Division I clash at Holman Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

And the clutch futility continued in the seventh. But the credit goes to Doughty and his catcher Ninteau, who are going to be teammates again next year at Fitchburg State. They know each other well, and Gaj calls this one of closest knit teams he’s ever had and trusts their on-field decision making implicitly. So the battery had a plan with the game on the line.

“The slider wasn’t there for me to day, and you just have to make a quick adjustment when you’re out there on the mound,” Doughty said. “The fastball worked, they weren’t catching up or they were under it and just started pounding those … Props to Merrimack, they made it hard…Exhilarating. I love close games.”

The voice of someone who’s been there before, and thrives on the experience. Players like that are hard to find.