As the Legion Prep season nears a close, Post 48 is nearing a playoff berth once again, as, despite their loss to Salem Gold 4-3 on Tuesday night, their magic number to earn themselves a playoff spot is just two after their Thursday night sweep of Portsmouth in relatively easy fashion, earning a 13-1 win in five innings via the mercy rule in their first game, and then a 6-0 win in five innings in their second, that being a planned five-inning affair.
On Tuesday night, Hudson had a chance to defend their top seed in District B as they took on Salem Gold at home, and unfortunately, things did not go according to plan for the home squad, as they fell 4-3 in a tight battle.
Salem Gold took a 1-0 lead early on against starter Jasper Workman, who gave up a leadoff double to Kyle Bailey, who was allowed to score on an error by Jackson Quinn. Fortunately for Hudson, the damage in the first was limited to just one run as Workman picked up a pair of lineouts to center and right field, respectively before striking out Mason Wiles to retire the side.
Both sides were then held scoreless until the home half of the second rolled around when PJ Millette led off the inning with a four-pitch walk, and, after stealing second and third base, scored on Gavin Baviello’s RBI double to right, evening the game at 1-1. Hudson tacked on two more runs in their half of the third inning to take a 3-1 lead as both Harry Leinson and Holden Olsen scored on Cam St. Clair’s two-RBI double.
Salem Gold immediately responded in their half of the fourth inning as an error charged to Cam St. Clair led directly to the second Salem run, and then, just three pitches later, a sacrifice fly off the bat of Brody Lyons scored the tying run, evening the ballgame at 3-3 through three and a half innings.
Hudson was then shut down by Salem reliever Anthony Roman who came on in relief of Mason Ridlon in the bottom of the fourth and proceeded to retire 12 of the 13 batters he faced with the lone blemish on his stat line being a Jasper Workman single. Roman did not allow a batter to reach via the walk while striking out one, earning the win after a sixth-inning JR Marchesi RBI double.
Hudson was given the opportunity to bounce back following the tough loss in Portsmouth with a 7/5 doubleheader against Portsmouth as Hudson looked to inch closer to a playoff spot. They did just that, knocking their magic number down to just three by the end of the night as they won game one 13-1 via the mercy rule in five innings and 6-0 in game two which was a scheduled five innings.
In game one, Hudson jumped out to a 6-0 lead before starter Jasper Workman ever took the mound thanks to RBI hits from PJ Millette, Cole Baker, TJ Dembrowski, and Holden Olsen as they sent 11 batters to the plate, six of them scoring with two runners being stranded on base.
It turned out six runs were more than enough for Workman to work around as he was dealing on Thursday-five innings of one-hit ball while fanning 10 Portsmouth hitters and walking just two while only allowing one unearned run.
Hudson also tacked on seven more runs in the fourth inning while sending 12 batters to the plate and stranding two more runners on base in the inning. RBI in the inning came off the bats of Jackson Quinn (2), Ethan Buja (2), and Orion Goulet (2), with the seventh and final run of the inning coming in to score on an error on a popup off the bat of Jasper Workman.
In game two, it was more of the same for Hudson, as they picked up their fourth no-hitter of the season, this one coming just a single walk away from being a perfect game, as PJ Millette picked up 13 strikeouts in five innings while walking just the one batter, allowing no other blemishes on his line as only two balls were put in play against him, a groundout to short to lead off the ball game and a flyout to right field to end the fourth inning. Millette was able to do this on just 75 total pitches, only throwing 47 for strikes while getting help offensively from two runs in the second, one in the third, and three in the fourth innings to give Post 48 their tenth win of the season.
Thanks to Portsmouth, Salem Navy, and Londonderry being beaten up over the weekend, Hudson managed to lower their magic number down to just two entering the week with just two district games to play, both against Dover, on Monday and Wednesday with a game against 11-0 Bedford who has run the table with District A this season, not having a game closer than 5-1 on their opening night against Manchester. That Bedford game will not count toward playoff standings, so if Hudson can come away with wins against Dover in both games this week, they will be in the playoffs once again for the fourth straight year as they look to defend their title. Both district games will take place at Woodman Park in Dover at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday’s matchup will take place at the SAU field in Bedford at 5:30 p.m.