It's another edition of The Thursday Thoughts as Pete Tarrier breaks down Divisions I, II & III with his Top 10, while Dave Haley ranks the contenders in Division IV.  

 Our column today is brought to you by our great friend Kevin Shaw at Sotheby's International Realty!

Division I 

Division I Standings & Statistical Leaders

1. Pinkerton (12-1) I couldn’t bring myself to knock the Astros from the top spot in the rankings despite the loss to Londonderry on Saturday.  My Logic?  Pinkerton bounced right back beating Timberlane and Merrimack on Monday and Tuesday this week and still has a better record than everybody else in the league except…

2. Exeter (12-1) Exeter did something Pinkerton couldn’t do by beating Londonderry, but I’m still giving the nod to Pinkerton until they lose another one.  Losing is something Exeter hasn’t done since their third game of the season against Goffstown.  Since then the Blue Hawks have reeled off 10 straight wins.

3. Londonderry (10-2) Don’t look now, but the defending Champs are starting to score some runs.  The Lancers have put up double digits in 5 of their last 8 games and when you couple that with a stingy pitching staff and good defense they’re going to be a tough team to beat.  

4. Merrimack (8-3) The Tomahawks are on a two game losing streak after a red hot 8-1 start.  Coach Mike Dudash has a young team with a good veteran leader in second baseman Garron Brown who is hitting .400.    

5. Keene (9-4) The Blackbirds keep hanging around the Top 5 and are looking likely to host a playoff game in Keene come tournament time.  Brayden French, Zak Whitney, Sean Callahan and Fitch Hennessey have led the offense which has scored the 3rd most runs in D1 so far.   

6. Dover (9-4) The Green Wave have won 6 of 7 with the only loss in that stretch a 3-1 setback to Exeter.  Freshman Amari Lewis has been fueling the offense at the top of the order and coach Dubben has been using his deep pitching staff very effectively giving up just 31 runs in 13 games.  

7. Goffstown (7-5) Speaking of deep pitching staffs, the Grizzlies keep sending starters Noah Durham, Cam Hujsak and Ryan Dutton out there with Trevor Poisson in reserve and they all keep doing the job.  Some tough games ahead with Concord, Windham, BG and Londonderry in the next week.  

8. Windham (7-5) The Jaguars have lost their last 2 getting blown out by Exeter 12 to 2 on Tuesday and a 6-3 loss to Portsmouth last Friday.  Paul Armstrong is batting .457 and hit an inside the park home run last week for his 2nd long ball of the season.  

9. Trinity (8-6) Good 7-0 win when we covered the Pioneers on video against Portsmouth on Monday.  Not so good on Tuesday when they played without Jack Service and Logan Whitney in a 8-0 loss to Goffstown.  Trinity plays a home and home against Manchester Memorial this weekend.  

10. Portsmouth (7-6) The Clippers are barely holding onto the last spot in the rankings ahead of Winnacunnet and Bishop Guertin having lost their last 2 games and looking at a schedule that includes Keene Friday, Londonderry Monday, Pinkerton Wednesday and BG on Thursday.  WOW!

Division II

Division II Standings & Statistical Leaders

 

1. John Stark (11-0) The Generals have taken command of the Division 2 race and are one of only two unbeaten teams in New Hampshire high school baseball(D3 Conant is the other).  Deltyn Williams became the third Stark starting pitcher this year to throw a complete game with double digit strikeouts with his 11K 4-hitter against Lebanon.    

2. Plymouth (8-1) Pretty tough stretch to finish the season for the Bobcats with games against Kingswood, Pembroke, Hanover, Souhegan, Bow, John Stark and Kennett.  Coach Chris Sanborn’s team will certainly be battle tested.  

3. Bow (7-3) I'm giving Bow the slight edge over St. Thomas because of the head to head win by the Falcons over the Saints.  Bow’s 3 losses have been 2-0 to John Stark, 4-2 against Hanover and 4-3 against Merrimack Valley.  We’ll have video coverage of the Bow at MV game next Monday.  

4. St. Thomas (8-3) Timmy Avery hit a walk off 3 run homer to beat D1 Timberlane on Tuesday.  The Saints will take on Oyster River today, Souhegan on Friday and Kennett on Saturday.  Then they play at Hollis-Brookline on Monday.  If any team has the pitching depth to navigate that stretch it’s St. Thomas. 

5. Souhegan (8-3) With as many runs as the Sabers score…they have 104 in 11 games… it’s kinda hard to say they have quietly kept themselves in the Top 5, but it seems to me they are flying a bit under the radar.  We’ll try to shed some spotlight on Souhegan when they host rival Milford on Monday in a game we are going to cover on video.  

6. Merrimack Valley (7-3) The Pride have lost 2 of 3 dropping games against Pembroke and Oyster River in between a win over Lebanon.  They play ConVal on Friday before we see them with the NHSportspage.com video camera on Monday against Bow.

7. Pelham (6-5) After a hot 6 and 2 start the Pythons have dropped 3 games in a row, but all of them were close losses against quality opponents so there’s no need for alarm in Pelham.  Nick Muise has been swinging a hot bat along with Justin Desmarais and Jacob Davidson.  

8. Kingswood (5-5) The Knights have 2 good wins back to back beating Souhegan last Friday and Kennett on Monday of this week.  The game against Plymouth was postponed yesterday.  

9. Kennett (5-5) Matthew Charrette is having an All-State season with a .367 batting average and 4 wins as a pitcher.  Guillermo Chavarria Burns hit a Grand Slam in the win over Laconia.  

10. Oyster River (5-4) The Bobcats picked up a marquee win drubbing Merrimack Valley 14-3 last week.  Louis Goldberg, Ryan Michaud and Colin Klein have paced the offense while Cam Sengenberger and Landon Wolusky have led the pitching staff. 

Division III 

Division III Standings & Statistical Leaders

1. Conant (10-0) The Orioles are still unbeaten and the remaining schedule doesn’t have a team above .500 on it.  Kaden Kirby, Drey Seppala, Hunter Schultz, Gavin LeBlanc, Jordan Ketola and Lane LeClair are all hitting well over .300.   

2. Campbell (8-1) Big one tomorrow in Litchfield as Bishop Brady comes to town.  Campbell beat the Giants earlier this year.  It’s unfortunate we don’t get to see Campbell take on the likes of Conant or Monadnock during the regular season.  

3. Monadnock (10-2) Speaking of the Huskies…they can tune up for the playoffs with a challenging stretch of games coming up…Kearsarge on Friday, Belmont Monday, Fall Mountain next Friday and then Gilford on Monday May 20th.  

4. Belmont (7-1) Good win for the Red Raiders over Prospect Mountain on Wednesday this week.  Wyatt Divers pitched a complete game.  Belmont has won 5 in a row since the game we covered them when they lost to White Mountains.  It’s a rivalry game vs Gilford today in Belmont and the teams will meet again in Gilford next week.  

5. Gilford (6-2)  Pretty good resume for Gilford at the halfway point of the regular season.  Big win over White Mountains.  Only 2 losses are 3-2 against Monadnock and 8-0 against Campbell.  And Drew Smith was nominated for Player of the Week.  

6. White Mountains (7-2) A little bit of a surprising loss on Monday against D4 Woodsville.  Not that Woodsville is a cupcake, they are very good, but you expect White Mountains to handle them.  We’ll see what happens when the teams meet again on May 20th.  

7. Bishop Brady (5-2) I didn’t love the loss to Hopkinton for Brady last week, but they bounced back nicely with an 8-7 win over Fall Mountain and then beat Somersworth on Monday.  Very tough next few games with Campbell, Stevens, Raymond and Prospect.  

8. Fall Mountain (6-2) The Wildcats loss to Brady has them just behind them in the rankings.  The other loss came to unbeaten Conant.  Fall Mountain has a chance to move up in the standings with a favorable upcoming schedule that includes D4 Hinsdale, Newport, Mascoma and Hillsboro-Deering.  

9. Raymond (6-4) The Rams will be tested in the final 2 weeks of the season as they face Hopkinton, Brady twice, Prospect, Campbell and Epping.  Caleb Pekalskey, Collin McGovern, Camden Morrill, Ryan Santino and Shane McKenny have paced the Raymond offense.

10. Prospect Mountain (5-5) The Timberwolves are trying to get over and stay above .500.  Tough loss to Belmont on Wednesday.  Newfound is in on Friday and the next week is really tough with games against Brady, Raymond and Campbell. 

Division IV 

 Division IV Standings and Statistical Leaders

1. Woodsville- There will be no ‘undefeated dances’ at Delta Dental Stadium next month after Littleton’s 3-2 extra-innings win over the previously undefeated Engineers. Brent Cox’s team stays on top of the standings with their impressive 6-3 win over Division III defending champion White Mountains behind Mike Hogan at the plate (two hits and a pair of RBIs) and Landon Kingsbury on the mound (one earned run in five and ⅔ innings).

2. Newmarket- Championship pedigree is real (and so are UFOs, apparently), and the Mules have it. The champs, who won three consecutive one-run games on the way to the 2023 title, are 3-0 in one-run games after a 3-2 win Tuesday over Portsmouth Christian.

3. Derryfield—The bats are warming up, with Alex Comire, Jack Steward, and Owen Clemans all hitting .348 or better. The Cougars have now won six in a row. They face a big test on Monday when they face a red-hot Epping Blue Devils team.

4. Gorham- A week ago, we wrote that it was hard to know just how good the Huskies are. Well, we know now, and the Huskies are still really good. A 5-2 win over Littleton that got Isaac Langlois (a complete game W) nominated for player of the week and a hard-fought 6-5 loss to Woodsville proved that. Jack Saladino went the distance in the loss, striking out nine Engineers. 

5. Littleton- That wasn’t what you’d term a crucial win for AJ Bray’s Crusaders on Tuesday, but it was pretty big.  The Crusaders got four terrific innings of relief from JP Perez and fought through numerous two-strike counts against Engineers ace Mike Hogan to earn the win. With a rematch with Gorham at home on May 22nd, they will have a chance to split their four games against the two best Division IV teams on their schedule.

6. Portsmouth Christian—If you’re searching for ‘good losses’ on team resumes, I’ll direct you to Derek Summers’ team. Last year, Newmarket beat PCA 17-2 and 12-2 on their way to a title. Tuesday’s 3-2 loss at Newmarket shows that they’ve closed the gap. Ace Kian Littlefield pitched well in the loss, but the offense could only generate three hits against the Mules.

7. Epping- Nick Niles’ Blue Devils are playing really good baseball. Nate Gallant pitched a gem (two hits and eleven strikeouts) in a win over Division III Raymond, and Dylan Dulong threw a complete game to earn a season split with PCA. Division IV has a bona fide home run race and Grayson Davis is right in the middle of it with three bombs on the season.

8. Sunapee- Tom Fredericks's team doesn’t have a bad loss on the resume but needs some quality wins. They can earn one tomorrow against Mascenic in a game we plan to cover. Sam Gaudet has been very good at the plate for the Lakers, ranking second in the division with eighteen runs batted in.

9. Colebrook- Kolten Dowse threw his first inning of the season and struck out the side last week as the Mohawks won their third straight. Jack Kyler (.500 with 10 RBIs) and Dylan Dauphinais (.381 and 12 RBIs) have been very good for Tim Purrington’s team.

10. Concord Christian- The Kingsmen hold off Nute for the final spot in the rankings but it’s going to take a big win to return next week. They’ll face Derryfield twice and Portsmouth Christian in the next seven days. Zach Syvertson has been very good at the plate, hitting .515 with 18 runs batted in on the season.