2024 was a year of ups and downs for Alvirne’s baseball squad. The team began its season at an abysmal 0-8 before even getting their first win, and then dropped to as low as 1-10 after winning their first game. It’s hard to believe even three weeks after the end of the season, but that Bronco squad was only a half game away from making a playoff spot. Had Spaulding lost one more game or Alvirne won one more game throughout the course of the season, the Broncos were in the playoffs. It’s not a bizarre thing to say that this was the single best 7-12 team Alvirne baseball has ever fielded.
To begin the season, Alvirne had a rough go of things, but a lot of that had to do with a front-heavy schedule.
The Broncos started 2024 with an “away” game against the eventual D-I champion Pinkerton Astros, which was played at Alvirne due to poor field conditions in Derry. The Astros traveled well and were led by a moonshot home run off the bat of Jackson Marshall that traveled an estimated 488 feet and hit JV 2B Jayden Alvarez on the fly.
The Astros took home the season opener against Alvirne for the fifth time in the last six seasons (all except 2021) by a final score of 8-1.
Alvirne then played host to the Concord Crimson Tide in their official home opener in a game that saw two teams that eventually battled for the final playoff spot, both of whom came up just short of the dance. The score from their early-season matchup was no indicator of this, as the Crimson Tide came away with a 10-0 victory behind an excellent outing from their starter Alex Turant who went 6.1 innings, scattering four hits and striking out nine batters without walking any in the process on just 89 pitches before handing the ball to Dawson Fancher. The pair also pitched around four errors while Alvirne was unable to get anything going offensively and struggled on the mound as Craig Pederson gave up two runs on three hits with a walk and a strikeout in four innings before handing the ball to Devin Smith who had the same stat line in two innings of work before Antonio Vallante pitched the seventh and allowed six runs, just two earned, striking out three and walking two while allowing three hits. Josh Turant and Dawson Fancher led the way for Concord combining for three hits and five RBI, both hitting home runs on the day.
In game three, there was a lot of anticipation as the Portsmouth Clippers came to town on account of the highly anticipated return of Mikey Bebris to the rotation for the first time since he tore the UCL in his right elbow in the summer of 2022, requiring Tommy John Surgery and costing him a year of his high school career. Bebris pitched well in his return, allowing four runs, three earned, on seven hits while striking out ten and walking two over the course of 4.2 innings. Dylan Page allowed the remaining four Clipper runs in the 8-0 loss as the first man out of the bullpen for Alvirne. Again, though, the story was the cold bats as the Broncos had just one run in their first three games.
The Broncos seemed to have bounced back from their rough start in their fourth straight game at the barn when they played host to Bishop Guertin, jumping out to a 5-1 lead through three innings thanks to RBI doubles from Mikey Bebris and Kyle Dufour, an RBI single from Jaxson Polleck, and a sacrifice fly that brought home a run from former Cardinal Brandon Ganas coupled with excellent work on the mound from Devin Smith. Even after the Cardinals picked up a run in the fifth inning, the Broncos still looked comfortable up 5-2 looking to upset one of their rivals.
In the seventh, however, the wheels fell off for Alvirne as the Broncos sent Smith out to finish what he started and get the win. Unfortunately, Devin put the first two batters on without the benefit of a ball in play thanks to a hit batter and a walk signaling the end of his night and as he turned the ball over to Brandon Ganas, the tides turned against the Broncos. The Cardinals’ bench began berating their former teammate throughout his outing as Ganas walked three and committed an error while only getting one out and allowing the Cardinals to tie the game. Mikey McGowan would relieve Ganas, and he would allow both inherited runners to score as well as a run of his own, putting the Broncos in a 9-5 hole that they were unable to climb out of as they lost to Bishop Guertin by that score.
Alvirne wrapped up their five-game homestand with a 5-4 heartbreaking loss against the Winnacunnet Warriors. The Warriors jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, but Alvirne responded with two in the home half of the first before Timmy Knight and Logan Casey exchanged zeros on the scoreboard into the home half of the fourth when the Broncos added another run. The Warriors proceeded to score a run in the fifth, sixth, and seventh to take a 4-3 lead on the Broncos before Kyle Dufour tied the game with an RBI single in the seventh.
Unfortunately, Dylan Page was unable to keep the Warriors off the board in the eighth, as they took the lead and Timmy Knight was able to slam the door for Winnacunnet as the Warriors took home the win.
Alvirne then went on a four-game road trip that saw the Broncos falling to Exeter 10-0 followed by back-to-back 4-2 losses with the first against Goffstown and the second at the hands of Nashua North, both in competitive ballgames before the Broncos headed to Gill Stadium to take on Manchester Memorial in a battle of the two winless teams in D-I. Alvirne jumped out to a 5-0 lead through an inning and a half and, after allowing a pair of runs in the bottom of the second, the Broncos put up three in the third, two in the fourth, and three in the fifth to give themselves a 13-3 lead going into the home half of the fifth with a chance to inflict the mercy rule on the Crusaders. Unfortunately, Memorial put up four runs in their half of the fifth before the Broncos got a crucial insurance run in the sixth and the Crusaders scored six in their half of the frame to make it 14-13 Alvirne heading into the final inning. While the Broncos were unable to score in the seventh, the first time the Crusaders kept the Broncos scoreless all night, Manchester Memorial was also unable to score in the seventh, giving Alvirne the 14-13 win in what looked more like a football score than a baseball one.
Alvirne proceeded to lose to Windham and Trinity at home to wrap up the week, dropping them to 1-10 after their 11-5 loss to Windham and 11-3 loss to Trinity. At 1-10 their playoff hopes were in serious jeopardy, but Coach Houle’s Broncos were still hungry and wanted to prove teams wrong.
“Farmball”, as the team has dubbed themselves, then went on a run. It started with a 2-1 walk-off win over Salem courtesy of a Max Francisco RBI bloop single. Then a 4-1 win over Dover that Mikey Bebris dominated on the mound to earn his first win, beating Penn State commit Alex Cook in the process. Alvirne then dropped a game in Bedford 10-0 before being stunned by Manchester Central-West 2-1 in a game that all but ended Alvirne’s playoff dreams. The elimination number was down to one.
AHS ran with the idea of being the underdog, though, as they beat Nashua South in a walk-off win 7-6 to keep their season alive before a gauntlet of a final week of the season. At Keene on Monday, at Londonderry on Wednesday, and home for senior night on Friday against Merrimack. Teams that entered the week as the fourth, third, and fifth best teams in the state. If Alvirne was gonna stay alive, they had to make it interesting.
The Broncos continued their hot streak, beating Keene 7-5 on the road thanks to an early offensive rally that saw them up 7-0 on the Blackbirds through three innings with Logan Casey dealing for Alvirne. The Blackbirds managed to crack Casey for a run in the fourth, but up 7-1, the Broncos trusted the process. Even after Keene struck for four more in the fifth, Casey got out of the jam before handing the ball to Mikey Bebris who picked up the save, going two innings to slam the door on Keene while only allowing a walk and striking out one. Concord and Spaulding both lost, as well, keeping the Broncos alive.
Alvirne then traveled to Londonderry to meet with their rivals on Londonderry’s senior night. The Broncos came away with another 7-5 win, this time in a game that was far more back-and forth, as Alvirne took a 2-0 lead in the first, Londonderry got a run in the first and second to tie the game at 2-2, Alvirne and Londonderry each got runs in the third to tie the game at 3-3 through three innings. Both teams picked up two in the fourth and were held scoreless in the fifth. By the time the sixth inning rolled around, both teams were into their bullpens as Londonderry turned the ball over to Sully Daron and the Broncos had given the ball back to Bebris to slam the door. Alvirne managed to pick up a pair of runs in the sixth thanks to a couple of errors that allowed Charlie Crawford and Mikey Bebris to score and give the Broncos the 7-5 lead, which was all Bebris needed to pick up the win. All Alvirne needed to make the playoffs was a win and a Spaulding loss to Central-West.
On Senior Night, the Tomahawks jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning before Alvirne responded with two of their own on a Jayden Alvarez two-RBI single to left. Merrimack then scored three in the fifth after Logan Casey walked in two runs and then allowed a third run on a sacrifice fly to right to make it 4-2 Merrimack. The game would head into the bottom of the sixth with the same score before Chase Mitchell drove in a run to cut the deficit to 4-3 in favor of the Tomahawks. Mikey Bebris then drove home the tying run on an RBI double to left field that had a slim chance of getting out of the ballpark, but just stayed in. After a Logan Casey intentional walk, Alvirne had the bases loaded in a tie game with nobody out.
Ryan Mainey appeared to be losing his control at that point for the Tomahawks, and he proceeded to sail the 2-2 pitch to the backstop, allowing Max Francisco to score and keep the Broncos alive. All they needed now was a Spaulding loss.
Unfortunately, the Red Raiders picked up the win over Central-West, but if there is one takeaway from the end of the season, it’s that Colton Houle may be the answer as far as the Broncos’ managerial issues go, and that this team should be on a lot of people’s radars in 2025. As Coach Houle mentioned at Athletic Awards night that one coach said to him, “Everyone was rooting for Alvirne to make it to the playoffs,” and while they fell short, 7-12 is a big step from back-to-back seasons of 4-14.
