Portsmouth
Division II 2011-2012

 Defending Class I champion Portsmouth moved to 6-0 on the season behind 4 innings of one run baseball from pitcher Keegan Taylor and a pair of hits from all-state outfielder Mike Montville and Jack Gonsalves.

 Coe-Brown got a pair of hits from Zach Branco (2 for 4) and Tucker White, including White's home run that was the Bears only run of the game. Jesse Guckert pitched well in defeat, giving up three runs and six hits over seven innings. 

 We are proud to announce our partnership with Calero & Sullivan Baseball Management and want to highlight the baseball traveling teams program the group has been running for baseball teams all over New England.

 Enrique "Kike" Calero played professional baseball in the Houston Astros organization and carried his lifelong knowledge and experience into the coaching ranks at the college and high school level. Calero has specialized in representing professional Latin American players and has recently worked extensively with USA Baseball Training Centers in Newington, N.H.

 Jason Sullivan joined Calero after establishing one of the top law practices on the Seacoast with Sullivan Law offices (the proud sponsor of Portsmouth high school coverage). Sullivan received his Bachelors degree from UNH and his law degree from the University of San Diego.

 " We are very excited to introduce our program to the high school baseball teams in New Hampshire, " said Sullivan. " This is a great opportunity for baseball teams in New Hampshire to compete in Puerto Rico against teams at the highest level and just as importantly, develop their skills in both a highly competitive environment and tropical climate."

 The trips to Puerto Rico are 5 days long (Thursday to Monday) and includes a weekend tournament, team practices, sight seeing as well as dining and hotel accommodations. " The response from the coaches, players and parents has been tremendous and we're only expecting the level of participation to grow with our affiliation with NHsportspage," said Sullivan. " Teams from all levels of New Hampshire baseball will have the opportunity to compete at a time of year when baseball is usually put on hold during the fall and winter months."

 Red Sox Hall of Famer Bob Stanley has accompanied teams to Puerto Rico with Calero and Sullivan and will continue to be a major part of the program.

 For information on how send your team to Puerto Rico for world class baseball visit http://www.caleroandsullivan.com/ and ask about the discount on travel and accommodations you receive when you mention NHsportspage.com.

 Can anyone break the Portsmouth dynasty? That's the question this spring. The answer could be St. Thomas, which finished second in the regular season and lost to the Seacoast-based Clippers in the state title game. Or Lebanon, which finished the '09 regular season 13-3 and returns a ton of talent... or for that matter any of a half-dozen clubs in this competitive division.

 Word has it there are still pockets of snow in the backwoods at the top of the state, though North Country teams like Pittsburg and Colebrook don't lose games to the white stuff anymore.

 Meanwhile, south of the mountains, the season is in full bloom, and all over the state the 2010 baseball season has reached its mid-point and beyond. There have been some upside surprises this season, like Salem and Souhegan, while other clubs like Winnacunnet in Hampton has underachieved. But baseball is baseball, and on any given day, most any team in the state can, with a strong starter on the mound and a little luck, beat most any other club.

 As the season turns the corner and teams begin thinking playoffs, a look at the 2010 season at roughly the halfway mark:

 It's June, and the Boston Celtics are about to meet the Los Angeles Lakers in yet another east coast/west coast NBA Final; the Boston Red Sox are confusing their fans, beating the best teams (Tampa Bay) and losing to the bottom-dwellers (Kansas City)... and the Bruins are playing golf.

 England is the odds-on favorite in World Cup soccer (North Korea, meanwhile, is the longest shot at 200-1 and organizers reportedly worry the North Koreans might torpedo the South African Navy if they don't do well).  

 Closer to home, it's all about NHIAA playoff baseball this time of year. Tournament play begins Thursday, as the best high school teams in the Granite State get down to the serious business of deciding who is the best in each of the state's four high school divisions.

 While Nashua North, Portsmouth, Somersworth and Pittsburg are arguably the best teams in their respective classes, questions fill the air like Quebec smoke. Can Keene repeat in the state's large school division and become the first team to win back-to-back Class L titles since... well, Keene, in 1997.

 Can Portsmouth do something no team has ever done in Class I; namely, three-peat. Not to mention extend its 59-game win streak into 2011. Is Pittsburg for real, and can Somersworth finish the 2010 season without a dent in its so-far perfect ‘10 record.

 The semifinals in this spring's NHIAA baseball tourney are set for this Tuesday and Wednesday, and some compelling match-ups are on the menu. 2009 Class L champion Keene remains in the mix in the state's top division, and Class I Portsmouth will try to extend its 61-game winning streak when it meets Con Val.

 In Class S, Pittsburg, with the Chase brothers and a strong supporting cast, is looking at a championship game berth and a second state title in two years.

 The following is a quick look at the games:   

 Class I

 Both Lebanon, a pre-season pick to go deep into the playoffs, and Bedford, which seemingly came out of nowhere after a lackluster April to reach the semifinals, loom as Portsmouth's major obstacles to a third straight state title, though the #1 Clippers have business to attend to before any talk of a Class I championship game.

  A flurry of music and dance opened the 2010 World Cup in the purest sport on Earth Thursday. On domestic ground, will Paul Pierce ever show up vs. the West Coast. And can old man Tim Wakefield shake off the years and make the knuckler flutter before he's sent out to pasture?

 Closer to home, the Bishop Guertin boys captured the Division 1 lacrosse title this week in Nashua, beating Exeter 15-10. In Division 2, Bow High School prevailed 14-13 over the Bedford Bulldogs in extra time. Derryfield defeated Kingswood in Div. 3, 12-11.

 The Hollis Brookline girls made all of Souhegan Valley proud, taking the girls' Division 3 lacrosse crown over Kearsarge 10-4 at Southern New Hampshire University.

 And whatever happened to Spartan Dwight Barbiasz, who leapt seven feet in the high jump three years ago for MHS?

 (Other questions persist. Will open conflict darken the Korean peninsula before August, and is all that crude ever going to stop gushing into the Gulf (I'm just lucky I listened to my bride and didn't buy shares in BP last month, despite my broker's recommendation).

 Which brings us to New Hampshire schoolboy baseball.

 Often there comes a point in a long season when a team at the crossroads faces its demons, and finds a spirit that turns a potentially disastrous season into a great one. That happened to Winnisquam High and Portsmouth Christian Academy this spring, sometime in late April.

 Portsmouth Christian opened the spring without a win in two weeks.

“After we started out 0-3 I had my doubts, but the kids… started playing better, started to believe in themselves, and it just went from there,” PCA head coach Chip Andrews recalled after his club beat North Country power Pittsburg to win the Class S crown on June 12.

 At Winnisquam High School it was an early-season loss that prompted the pivotal soul-searching. “After the Mascoma loss we took a look at ourselves and realized we had to work hard every time out… and we did,” coach Fred Caruso recalled recently. And the Bears went on to compile a 19-2 record and beat favored – and previously unbeaten – Somersworth to win the Class M title.

 Rain-infused pollen-infested spring air is so seductive I wish I could capture and bottle it... save it for those dark quick February nights when hope is dim and you just hope the boiler doesn't break down.

 The Bumblebees are up three games to none against the Flyers. Does this ring any bells? At any rate...

 Not going to release the Bin Laden photos? What's up with this Obama guy?

 You just can't trust him, my neighbor says.

 In fact, Osama Bin Laden was not cornered and shot in the head in Abbottabad last Sunday, but is alive and living in New Jersey with Snooki. The reported death of the man was all a contrivance perpetrated on the American public solely to increase Democrats' 2012 re-election prospects.

 I know, because I had a vision one late night this week that the alleged death of the world's most infamous terrorist was really a CIA-backed covert operation (by the same people who manufactured that Hawaii live-birth document) and the guy actually shot in that bedroom raid was, in fact, Che Guevara, who was not killed in 1967 but survived until this week, and who actually was the subject of clandestine experiments that reversed the aging process and caused Guevara to actually grow younger. Presumably, the iconic Marxist theorist and activist was about to lead an action against our friends the Pakistanis and had to be, well, eliminated. Which he was. And dumped into the ocean.

 Seriously, the more I hear from the TV nightly news or read in the NY Times, the more I think we don't know anything about what's really happening. Invisible helicopters? Shooting at men in robes shielded by women? Hot dogs taste good, but who wants to know what's in them? With a little mustard & relish, they taste great.

 The last time Portsmouth High School lost a baseball game ‘Die Hard 4' and ‘Ocean's 13' were playing in local movie theaters, a gallon of gas cost $3.32, Coca Cola had just recently stopped marketing Black Cherry Vanilla Coke, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average sat at around 13,600.

 In June 2007, both Portsmouth and Hollis Brookline were in the large school division when the Cavaliers beat the Clippers in the '07 playoffs. Hollis Brookline went on to play in the state title game, and Portsmouth's baseballers moved on to summer pursuits.

 The law offices of Jason M Sullivan sponsors the coverage of Portsmouth high school

 Since then a lot has happened. The stock market crashed then recovered and gas prices have steadily, gradually risen. The price of an ounce of gold - not to mention silver - has spiked to where some people are selling the family jewelry to shylocks looking for a quick buck. Both Portsmouth and Hollis Brookline dropped a level in baseball as school enrollment has declined. But while the Cavaliers continue to win and lose baseball games, the Portsmouth Clippers have won... and won... and won.

 Portsmouth's lone run in the first inning was all they would need as Rick Holt struck 9 and threw six innings of shutout baseball over Merrimack Valley Wednesday afternoon before Mark Pearson worked a scoreless seventh.

 Billy Hartmann went 2 for 4 with a double & a triple while Cam Berube went 2 for 3 with a pair of RBI's as Portsmouth ran their record winning streak to 86 consecutive games.

Cody Smith Photography

 Trailing 4-1 going into their last at bat St. Thomas Aquinas score 4 runs in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 5-4 win. Adding to the drama was the fact that the winning run was scored by starting pitcher Jordan Bean, who played baseball as a teenager for Portsmouth before enrolling at St. Thomas. The Saints ended one of the Nation's longest winning streaks at 89 games with the win and take over possesion of first place in Division II.

  Clippers ace Rick Holt pitched well, carrying a 4-1 lead into the last inning behind a 4 for 4 performance at the plate. Jordan Bean though hit a two run double with one out in the seventh to tie the game at 4-4 and the Saints won it when Chris White singled off Portsmouth reliever Andrew Haslam which sent Bean home with the game winner.

 The rematch in Portsmouth is set for May 16th.

Cody Smith Photography

 From Monday

 For the second time in two epic meetings this season Portsmouth held a late inning lead on St. Thomas and starting pitcher Ricky Holt was in trouble.

 After pitching lights out for six innings the Clippers ace was spent and in came players' lounge member Kyle DiCesare, owner of two state titles already in his senior season, for the save. DiCesare got Portsmouth out of the jam with both his right arm and his glove, or more accurately, his bare hand. DiCesare made a bare handed stab at a shot up the middle that he then turned into a 1-4-3 double play that would prove to be the Saints last shot at another come from behind win.

 Portsmouth stays in the hunt for the top seed in the Division II with a 4-2 win over their arch-rival and sets the stage for a possible rubber match down the line. DiCesare and shortstop Billy Hartmann had key RBI's as Tim Hopley's team moved to 14-1 with only a meeting today with Oyster River remaining.

 It took not only eighteen tournament games but a few extra innings on Thursday afternoon for someone in
Division II to beat Portsmouth when their season was on the line. When Lebanon's Jacob Davis crossed home plate in the top of the 10^th inning ahead of a Matt Feeney throw to first (in an attempted double-play) it gave the visitors
a 2-1 lead and would prove to be the run that ended a dynasty. The Clippers would get a runner on in the bottom of the 10^th against Lebanon reliever Colin MacNamee but as had been the case all day, they were unable to put a rally together against the #3 seed.

 Portsmouth ace Rick Holt (7-2) was outstanding but was undone by the unearned run in the 10^th. A two base throwing error by Feeney put Davis on and even with strong relief work out of the bullpen by lounge member Kyle DiCesare the Clippers weren't able to get out of the winning unscathed.

 Holt and Lebanon ace Brady Boisvert (10-0) would only give up 7 singles combined on the day as the Red Raiders advance to the Division II championship game where they will meet the winner of St. Thomas & Bedford.