1 day Ago By Portsmouth Herald
PORTSMOUTH - The entire Dover dugout was leaning on the fence, while the Portsmouth players, who weren't out in the field, were doing the same. Both sides were anxiously awaiting the next pitch in a decisive top of the seventh inning of a Wednesday Division I matinee baseball game between the two Seacoast rivals.Dover, trailing 3-1 entering the seventh, had cut the deficit to 3-2, and had the bases loaded with two outs.
Then Portsmouth starter Patrick Bancroft induced a comebacker off the bat of Grant Davis, and immediately sprinted to first base to record the final out, preserving Portsmouth's 3-2 win."Two outs, game on the line, I don't want to risk (a bad throw)," Bancroft said. "We can't mess up the flip (to first base), so I just decided to sprint it over myself.
It wasn't a statement or anything. It was just something in the moment I decided to do."Bancroft allowed two earned runs, and struck out three in the complete-game win.
"Patrick is a bulldog, he's a bulldog, that's what I was thinking," Portsmouth head coach Tim Hopley said of watching Bancroft sprint to first. "He's like 'we're not going to mess around with this, we're going to do this and be done with it.' That's how he is, and he's shown that in some of these games; when I see that, I can tell he's amped up.
""I really like that tone," Portsmouth shortstop Gar Hindle said. "Seven innings, really just kind of finished off the game. Great kid, showed emotion there which the team loves.
We need that, and I loved it."Dover's near successful rally attemptDover, which scored more than 10 runs in four of its last six games, had scored just one run through six innings, but the bats kept fighting.Logan Mosher started the Dover seventh with an infield hit.
Will Angers then reached on a fielder's choice, forcing Mosher at second.Gage Brown then singled to left in between the reach of Hindle at shortstop and Max Herter at third. Jack Claxton struck out, and Sam MacGregor walked to load the bases.
Roger Mercier hit a grounder to short that took a sharp bounce causing Hindle to not field the ball cleanly, allowing pinch-runner Connor Sprague to score for a 3-2 game.With the bases loaded, Dover's rally attempt fell short on a groundout by Davis."Just hoping the ball bounces our way, and somehow we find a way to hit a ball where they're not and score some runs," Dover head coach Scott Dubben on the seventh.
"That was a good, solid high school baseball game. Great pitching, good defense, and they just scored one more run than we did."Dover's Daniel Conrad, who hit a solo home run in the fourth inning, said the game was scrappy.
"I definitely think we could have won, but (Portsmouth) is a very good team and we're a very good team," Conrad said. "I've got faith on every single kid on this team ..
. I trust Grant (Davis) with that at-bat at the end, I trust everybody on this team to have that at-bat at the end."Portsmouth ends two-game slide, halts Dover's six-game streakPortsmouth snapped a two-game losing streak, and improved to 5-3 on the season.
The Clippers fell to Pinkerton last Friday and Exeter on Monday. Those teams met up in last year's Division I state championship."To come back out and not let it continue to spiral and snowball, it's obviously a good feeling," Hopley said.
"It gives us the chance to win the week if we come in and pay attention to details, like we did today, again on Friday.""It's just good to be back in the win column and know we can compete with the better teams," Bancroft said.Hindle said it was a "big win" for the Clippers.
"To beat one of the top teams gives us a little boost for (Nashua) South on Friday," Hindle said. "Hopefully, we keep the streak going, but I think the energy overall throughout the team is high ..
. hopefully we keep rolling."On the other hand, Dover saw its six-game win streak come to an end.
Now 6-2, the Green Wave visits Cooperstown, for a doubleheader Thursday against Concord (2-5) and Division II Souhegan (5-0) at Doubleday Field."It was a good little run," Dubben said. "We went out there, and we got humbled a little bit today.
We've got to respond going into our trip out to Cooperstown.""Today didn't show how well we can hit the ball," Conrad said. "We've got some dogs on our team, and I'm really thinking this team can go far.
"Hindle blasts home runHindle put Portsmouth on the board with his first varsity home run over the right-center fence in the first inning, staking the Clippers to a 1-0 lead.Hindle said he started off slow this year, which isn't the way he wanted, so he changed his approach."(Staying) more simple through the middle," Hindle said.
"(The ball) just bounced off the bat and I didn't really know it was gone until I rounded second. It was a good feeling, it gets me back on track."Hindle said even though "you're not supposed to", he's been thinking about getting his first high school home run.
"But, it really helps getting it out the way, so now I don't have to think about it," Hindle said.Hopley said Hindle 'squared it up' and is a 'known commodity' in Division I."He's one of, if not the best, shortstops in the state," Hopley said.
"Scuffling a little bit with the bat coming into (Wednesday), and he led off the game with a home run."Hindle had two hits, and also drove in a run on a sacrifice fly in the second inning. Hopley said the team needs Hindle to be that spark at the top of lineup.
"When those guys set the table, and they're able to do the things they can do, it makes the team real tough," Hopley said.Bancroft, Clippers work with early leadBancroft said pitching with a lead helps a lot."It just gets the team, and especially me as the pitcher, a lot of confidence to trust my stuff again and bear down," Bancroft said.
"Portsmouth's Zavier Lampert had three hits, and Jackson Hooper had two, while Devin Driscoll and Ryan Clark (RBI) both had one.Mosher and Brown each had two hits for Dover, while Mercier, Angers, Conrad, Claxton and Sam MacGregor all had one.This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Bancroft, Hindle shine for Portsmouth baseball in win over Dover.
