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Nashua Senior Legion ousted by Concord

By Andrew Sylvia - | Jul 29, 2018

MANCHESTER – Nashua Post 124 needed a win to move forward in the New Hampshire American Legion State Final 8 Tournament, but that win did not materialize at Gill Stadium on Saturday.

Post 124 was easily dispatched Concord Post 21, falling 12-0 in five innings.

Nashua’s struggles started in the first, as Concord’s Kurtis Stadnicki smacked a single to right, becoming the first of five consecutive Post 21 batters to reach base safely.

Concord’s Jacob Kelly brought Stadnicki home on a double during that rally and Eric Sullivan would empty the bases on another double later in the inning. However, Post 21 was not done.

Even though Concord squandered another bases loaded opportunity in the second, it would capitalize with the bases loaded once again in the third, with a double from Ryan Tessier bringing two more runs across the plate. Concord added five more hits before the end of the third, sending 12 batters to the plate in an eight-run explosion.

While it’s easy to pin Concord’s success on their offense, credit for the victory also goes to Post 21 starting pitcher Griffin Gilbert, who fanned five Nashua batters.

Gilbert allowed just one hit, a second-inning single to shallow left by Mason Matylewski.

Concord manager Matt Skoby hoped to save Gilbert for later action in the tournament, but after their 3-0 loss to Merrimack a night earlier, Concord also found itself in a do-or-die situation. Thus, the call went out to Gilbert on the mound and Skoby also reminded his lineup they would need to re-find the eight run per game average they had throughout the season.

“(Gilbert) has done an exceptional job on the mound all summer for us,” said Skoby. “I was really confident with him on the mound that we could stymie their offense because they hit one through nine. Were just fortunate to get an early lead.”

Nashua manager Tim Lunn also praised Gilbert and the Concord lineup, noting that numerous mistakes against such a talented team generally will lead to a negative result.

“We gave them some base runners, missed a couple of spots and they have a good lineup,” said Lunn. “They put a couple of good swings on the ball, hit the ball where they needed to, and that led to runs in bunches for them.”

Concord ended the contest with 12 hits, receiving three hits and a walk from Stadnicki as well as two hits each from Sullivan and Jacob Kelly. Griffin also reached base safely in three of his four at-bats, hit by a pitch in the second along side his first-inning walk and a third-inning single.

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