MANCHESTER, N.H. — In heartbreaking fashion, the Manchester Sweeney Post #2 baseball team fell to Weare Post #65 Monday evening at Gill Stadium by a score of 5-4.
Sweeney took a 4-0 lead into the top of the seventh inning, but weren’t able to finish the job as Weare starting pitcher Brett Patnode hit a three-run home run over the right-centerfield fence to give them the lead. Earlier in the seventh, Jeff Wagner tripled to bring home a run and later scored on a single from A.J. De Tone to help build the Weare comeback.
Griffin Logue pitched for Sweeney, going the full seven innings, striking out six and pitching six scoreless before things fell apart in the top of the seventh. The Sweeney offense was buoyed by a barrage of walks and singles but had trouble in the late innings, as they were unable to get anyone aboard in the fifth, sixth and seventh.
Patnode started for Weare, going two innings with one strikeout and no hits. He started the next inning but moved to center field as Alex Moore took over during the second at-bat in the third.
With Moore on the mound, Sweeney took advantage as Mike Girard scored the first run of the game on a passed ball in the bottom of the third. With bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth, Girard walked and scored Jake Vachon before a single from leadoff man Parker Bradley drove in two runs to increase the lead to 4-0. It wasn’t enough to get the win, however, with Weare’s seventh-inning rally.
“Their heads are in a good place. They battled — [Logue] threw a great game. He threw strikes and breaks didn’t go our way, we let them hang around and they won the game,” Sweeney coach Nick Koravos said. “We’ll bounce back…they’re gonna learn from this. They’re gonna learn from this, take this as an opportunity to learn and respond tomorrow.”
With the loss, Sweeney drops to 2-3 on the season and Weare improves to 1-0 in their first game of the summer. Sweeney returns to Gill Stadium on Tuesday for a 6:30 p.m. contest against Keene.
