It’s safe to say the Concord Post 21 American Senior Legion baseball team is hitting its stride at the right time.
With the State Tournament set to begin on July 26th at Nashua’s Holman Stadium, Concord is making a strong case to be the top seed. The squad, coached by Matt Skoby, currently sits in first place in the District A standings after winning eight of its last nine district games to improve to 10-3.
That stretch of play has included four wins in two days over the weekend, starting Saturday with 13-2 and 6-2 wins over Keene, and continuing into Sunday afternoon’s doubleheader at Memorial Park in Laconia where Concord earned a 7-4 triumph in the early contest before shutting out Laconia in Game 2, 3-0.
Game 1 was all about the bats as a red-hot Eric Sullivan, Jacob Knowles, Adrian Kennedy and Nate Vandersea all collected RBI to help ignite the offense. Sullivan, who finished Saturday’s doubleheader 8-for-8 with 4 RBI, added three more hits to keep the streak going before finally recording an out.
On the mound it was Pembroke Academy’s Peter Apgar collecting the win in his pitching debut. Apgar, who caught for 13 innings on Saturday, entered in sixth and pitched a 1-2-3 frame after taking over for starter Jake Sullivan, who kept Concord in it over the first five innings.
Game 2 offered a different feel as both offenses were held in check.
Concord’s Tyler Wright was the star of the show in the shutout victory, tossing a complete game with three strikeouts, three walks and just three hits allowed. Despite only generating three hits of its own – one apiece from Zach Miles, Ryan Tessier and Eric Sullivan – Concord managed to scratch across three runs to get Wright the win.
Concord has six games remaining before the tournament begins. Up next for Post 21 is a trip to Memorial High School in Manchester on Monday to take on Sweeney before a marquee matchup on the road against Lebanon (10-4) on Wednesday.