As summer quickly approaches, so begins the 2024 NH American Legion Baseball season, and while Hudson does not have a Senior or Junior team, there is a squad for Post 48 at the Prep level which is led by head coach Chris Olsen for the 2024 season. Post 48 began their season with a win over Londonderry 11-1 in a mercy rule and a doubleheader sweep over Salem Navy winning the first game 8-2 in seven innings and the second game 4-0 in five.
On Thursday, Post 48 opened their season against Londonderry and managed to take care of business against Londonderry Post 27 as Hudson scored three runs in the third inning after poor defense cost Londonderry three runs with Cam St. Clair scoring on a passed ball and PJ Millette and Cole Baker scoring thanks to errors.
Neither team would score until the top of the fifth when Londonderry scored their lone run on an Owen Gray RBI single to left, the lone blemish on Jasper Workman’s pitching line as he scattered three hits and three walks across six innings while striking out nine batters.
In the home half of the sixth, Hudson blew the doors off their hinges as they put up eight runs to finish the game an inning early thanks to a Jackson Quinn RBI single, a passed ball that allowed Memphis Beach to score, an RBI single for Cam St. Clair, an RBI groundout for Jasper Workman, a passed ball that allowed St. Clair to score again, a two-RBI single off the bat of Gavin Baviello, and finally an RBI single from Adam Willett, finishing off the 11-1 win.
Post 48 then turned around for a doubleheader against Salem Navy in which they were able to sweep at Michele Park in Salem, winning game one 8-2 in seven and game two 4-0 in five. Hudson took care of business on Friday despite many of their pitchers being on a 35-pitch limit due to a tournament for the New England Charge over the weekend.
Fortunately for Hudson, the bats got going early in game one as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead before PJ Millette even got the ball. PJ went 1.1 innings before reaching his pitch cap and turning the ball over to Heath Haynes, who was the only pitcher not on such a stringent pitch limit. Heath managed to eat 4.2 innings while only allowing one run on three hits while striking out two and walking seven. His teammates helped him out, as well, scoring a run in the fourth and four in the fifth to make it 8-2, allowing Haynes to pitch himself into and back out of trouble repeatedly.
In the seventh, Hudson turned the ball over to Cole Baker who got himself into a mini jam allowing back-to-back one-out singles before getting an infield fly and a flyout to center to shut the door.
In game two, Hudson handed the ball to Cam St. Clair to start the ballgame, and he was excellent in his three innings of work, striking out three batters in three perfect frames throwing just 29 pitches. His team had also accrued a 3-0 lead by the time St. Clair turned the ball over to his bullpen thanks to an RBI single by Reilly Hughes that scored Cole Baker, a balk that allowed Hughes to score, and an RBI single by Jasper Workman.
Jackson Quinn picked up where St. Clair left off in the fourth, although he lost the perfect game by allowing a walk before getting a flyout, walking a second batter, and then getting a double play on a line drive that left fielder Holden Olsen made a sliding catch on before having the wherewithal to throw the ball into the infield quickly to double off the runner at second base.
Hudson added another run in the fifth on a Jasper Workman RBI double to left before Quinn got a quick 1-2-3 inning in the fifth, striking out a pair before getting a pop-up to Memphis Beach at second to complete the no-no with both pitchers being eligible to pitch for their respective teams on Sunday if needed.
Hudson will travel to Rochester to take on Post 7 in another doubleheader on Wednesday before heading back to Salem to take on Salem Gold in a doubleheader on Thursday and then return home on Friday to play Portsmouth on Friday at Alvirne.