This season has been all but ideal for Alvirne’s baseball squad, as they entered the week at 0-8 with three more games on the calendar, and two of them against teams that will contend for a playoff spot with Monday’s game being a battle between DI’s two winless teams. The boys snapped their eight-game losing skid on Monday with a 14-13 win over Manchester Memorial, and then lost their next two at home, falling 11-5 to Windham and 11-3 to the Trinity Pioneers.
On Monday, Logan Casey got the ball for Alvirne in a battle of the final two winless squads in Division I, and he had a 1-0 lead before he took the mound after Mikey Bebris scored on an error in the top of the first.
Casey retired the side on just nine pitches in the bottom half of the first, and got his bats back up where they added four runs in the top of the second to make it 5-0 Alvirne on the strength of a Jameson Kreuger RBI single, a Kyle Dufour two-RBI single, and a Mikey Bebris RBI groundout.
The bottom of the second was not nearly as smooth for Casey as the first, as the Crusaders quickly loaded the bases with nobody out before a sacrifice fly brought home the first Crusader run, and then after a single loaded the bases, another sac fly drove home the Crusaders’ second run. Casey then got a strikeout to retire the side and limit the damage.
Alvirne answered back with three runs of their own in the top of the third, however, as more two-out offense came to the aid of the Broncos with Jaxson Polleck getting an RBI double, and then Jameson Kruger picking up his second RBI hit of the night with a double. Kruger then scored when Kyle Dufour reached on an error to make it 8-2 Alvirne.
Casey sent the Crusaders down without any issues in the third, and the Broncos then responded by adding two more runs to the board in the fourth. One of the runs came on a Chase Mitchell one-out, RBI single to left field, and the other on a RBI single from Max Francisco to make it 10-2 Alvirne. The Broncos would strand runners at first and second after Jameson Kruger flew out to end the inning.
Casey quickly picked up an out in the bottom of the fourth inning before allowing a single and then a groundout that allowed the runner to reach second before a RBI single drove a run in for Memorial to make it 10-3.
Alvirne added three runs in the fifth on a Devin Smith RBI single and an error that allowed two more runs to cross the plate for the Broncos.
In the bottom half of the inning, Memorial responded with four runs of their own, which would spell the end of the night for Logan Casey, but despite the seven runs, he pitched well, and his offense gave him the run support he so desperately needed.
After Alvirne tacked on an insurance run to make it 14-7 Alvirne through five and a half, Manchester Memorial exploded for six runs off Dylan Page and Brandon Ganas in the sixth before shutting the Broncos down in the top of the seventh.
The bottom half of the seventh saw the Crusaders get the tying run to third base, but Ganas was able to slam the door, earning himself his first save of the season while Logan Casey got the win.
On Wednesday, the Broncos returned home only for things to revert back to how the first half of the season played out, as Devin Smith allowed five runs in the top of the first inning, sending his team to an early hole to climb out of.
After the five-run outburst in the first, nobody would score until the bottom of the third inning when Kyle Dufour singled to left to bring home the first Bronco run. Windham immediately responded with two of their own in the fourth and another in the fifth to make it 8-1 Jaguars entering the sixth.
In the top half of the sixth, Windham got themselves three runs thanks to a walk, RBI double, infield single, hit by pitch, and an error on the pitcher Jayden Alvarez with one out in the inning.
The Bronco bats woke up in the bottom of the sixth, as they put four runs on the board after a one-out double from Mikey Bebris, a single from Logan Casey, then a Jayden Alvarez strikeout, a Chase Mitchell walk, a two-RBI single for Max Francisco, and an RBI single for Jayden Lewis.
Windham went down quickly in the seventh before Koutrobis slammed the door on the Broncos in the bottom half of the frame, sending the Broncos to a 1-9 start to the season heading into their Friday matchup with the Trinity Pioneers.
On Friday, the Pioneers and Broncos started out in a pitchers’ duel with Mason Ellison and Mikey Bebris both dealing from the first pitch. It took until the bottom of the second for the first salvo to be fired, and it was on a RBI sacrifice fly from Jaxson Polleck to make it 1-0 Alvirne heading to the third.
Trinity responded in the third inning with a run of their own when Tristan Lucier hit a double to bring home Connor Sturgis and tie the game at 1-1.
Bebris and Ellison returned to their pitchers’ duel through the fourth, with the score still even at 1-1 until Tristan Lucier drove in his second run of the night with an RBI single to make it 2-1 Pioneers.
The score would hold until Alvirne came to bat in the sixth when Bebris led off with a single to center, Logan Casey worked a walk, and after an Alex Small strikeout, Logan Orr singled to load the bases, and Jayden Lewis grounded out to second to score the tying run.
The celebration for Alvirne wouldn’t last, however, as the Pioneers exploded for nine runs in the seventh, and even with Alvirne answering back with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning, the damage was done. Alvirne fell 11-3 and fell to 1-10 on the season, guaranteeing themselves their third straight losing season.
In order to make the playoffs this season, the Broncos are going to have to string wins together and get some help from several other teams, as they currently sit 3.5 games out of the final spot in Division I, which is currently held by Winnacunnet (5-7).
