Last week, Hudson’s American Legion Prep team concluded their June schedule with matchups in Rochester, Salem, and home against Portsmouth. Post 48 began their week by splitting a doubleheader in Rochester with a 7-3 win in game one and a 9-2 loss in game two, then played at Michele Park on Thursday in what was supposed to be a doubleheader but saw game two rained out and lost to Post 63 Gold 6-3. They then returned home for the first time since beating Londonderry 11-1 and beat Portsmouth 9-3 from the friendly confines of Alvirne.
In their first game of the week, Hudson saw stellar pitching from Memphis Beach and TJ Dembrowski coupled with some timely hitting from Dembrowski and second baseman Kyler Cox which was able to carry Hudson to victory. In game two, however, Rochester was able to jump out to a 4-1 lead early and extend that lead to 9-1 through three innings in the shortened five-inning game to put the game on ice as Hudson shifted their focus at that point to conserving their pitching for later in the week at that point in the game.
Hudson then traveled to Michele Park for the second time in six days, this time for a doubleheader against Salem Post 63 Gold, who took care of business at home in what turned out to be the night’s only game as rain ensured that the field was unplayable and the teams would only get the one game in. Heath Haynes got the ball to start for Hudson and gave up six runs across three innings, four of those runs being earned while walking four and striking out none. Ethan Buja relieved Haynes and pitched much more efficiently, only needing 23 pitches to get through three innings allowing one hit and one walk in that span while not allowing a run nor striking out a batter. PJ Millette had the lone RBI of the night with his RBI double that scored Cam St. Clair in the process.
On Friday, Hudson returned home to take on Portsmouth at Alvirne. Hudson was able to beat Portsmouth with relative ease as they won 9-3, wrapping up their second week at 5-2 and setting themselves up in a solid position going into the thick of the season as far as the playoff push goes.
Hudson got the job done, as they have throughout the early portion of the season, through a sort of bullpenning situation, monitoring pitch counts stringently as no pitcher threw more than 38 pitches, keeping them available for Club games on Sunday if needed. Jasper Workman got the start and went 2.2 innings allowing three runs, none of which were earned, on three hits with a walk and a strikeout before turning the ball over to Cam St. Clair in the third who finished the inning and pitched the fourth all while not allowing a run and striking out three, helping him avoid any runs to be charged to his name despite allowing two hits and a walk. PJ Millette came in for the fifth and sixth, only allowing one hit while striking out three and walking one before turning the ball over to Chase Fuller who pitched the seventh only allowing a single hit and picking up a strikeout and shutting the door on just 13 pitches.
This week, Hudson will play just one game on Tuesday in the makeup game against Salem Gold at Michele Park at 5:30 PM. With their 5-2 record, they currently have the most wins in the NH Prep Division, while only sitting a half-game behind Bedford (4-0) for the top record in the division.
