By Shane Ball
The Alvirne High School Baseball squad tacked on two more wins lat week, giving them a three-game winning streak.
The Broncos were able to carriy the momentum from last week into this week, starting with a 4-1 win at Merrimack High School on Monday, May 12.
Alvirne and the Tomahawks battled through six innings before seeing anyone cross the plate.
The Broncos saved their best to last with an action-packed seventh inning, breaking the seal at the top of the seventh, when a single from shortstop PJ Millette gave them their first run of the day.
A single from Charlie Crawford loaded the bases for the Broncos, who would capitalize with a two-RBI single from Grayson Polleck.
Pitcher Brady Mitchell stepped up for the Broncos, allowing just one run on four hits and striking out three through all seven innings.
The offense kept rolling, at home, against Spaulding on Wednesday, thanks to another late-game surge, the Broncos took down the Spaulding Varsity Raiders 7-4.
Alvirne found themselves down early in this one, after Spaulding’s Hunter Spencer hit a home run in the second-inning that brought in three.
The home team was down 4-1 in the bottom of the fifth, when an error ran in three runs and the Broncos tied the game at four.
That wasn’t the end of the Broncos in the fifth, though. Alvirne added three more runs, for a total of six in the inning. This fiery fifth inning put the Broncos up 7-4, the eventual final score of the game.
Jaxson Pollock and Matty Bebris led the Broncos with two hits each. Bebris went 2-for-3 at the plate and had a team-high, two RBIs.
Alex Small got the win, pitching six innings with three Ks , nine hits and one walk.
Seemingly, and understandably so, back-to-back weeks of playing four games have caught up to the Broncos. They’d first fall to Bedford at home in a brutal 11-1 defeat. The Bedford Varsity Bulldogs put this game away after the third inning. Bedford opened up the scoring in the bottom of the second inning after a single from Peter Suozzo. Singles from Landon Frongillo and Carter Crowley added three more runs, and a tag-up by Will Smith gave the Bulldogs their fifth run of the inning.
The third inning was more of the same with a two-run single by Zach Papik and a walk to increase the Bulldog lead to eight.
Stellar pitching by James Gilbert was too much for the Broncos to overcome. The hurler gave up one hit and one run, striking out four and walking five through five innings. The 10 hits given up to Bedford didn’t help either. Suozzo, Papik, and Frongillo were responsible for six of those hits. Crowley and Papik each added two runs as well.
While Alvirne’s scoring picked up the following day, so did the runs given. Portsmouth took care of Alvirne 14-5 after an electric second inning.
The Broncos got on the board first after a single from Bebris and a walk drawn by Millette. Three hits and five runs for the Portsmouth Clippers in the bottom of the second inning opened a scoring window that could not be closed. The Clippers did not go scoreless in any inning after the first with five, two, five, four, and one run innings.
The hits were there in this game for the Broncos, who tied the Clippers at 12. They were just unable to capitalize.
The Broncos’ losses on Thursday and Friday put them at 3-9 on the season. With six games to go, the Broncos would need to win out to go .500, a feat only reached by nine of the 22 baseball teams in Division I at this point in the season.
The Broncos have a tough start to the week as they face #4 Londonderry. They’ll also take on Manchester Central, Timberlane, and Manchester Memorial.