Baseball and mental health: Northeast Tides hosting benefit at Hadlock Field

Mike Whaley
·6 min read
Exeter’s Bobby Cliche started the first game of the Northeast Tides’ doubleheader played last year at Hadlock Field in Portland, Maine.
Exeter’s Bobby Cliche started the first game of the Northeast Tides’ doubleheader played last year at Hadlock Field in Portland, Maine.

Friday night will be a big night for the Northeast Tides at Hadlock Field in Portland, Maine.

The Tides are a Seacoast semi-pro team in the North Shore Baseball League. The team has a decided local flavor with players from Dover, Rochester and Exeter on the roster. They are managed by Exeter’s Scott Bleakley.

Bleakley has put together Friday night’s festivities at Hadlock, home of the Portland Sea Dogs (the Boston Red Sox AA affiliate). It is the first of three planned exhibition games called Three States Unite to Fight for Mental Health and Substance Abuse.

The night will feature a skills challenge for young fans and a home run derby for 18-and-over fans. The night will conclude with a nine-inning game between the Tides and the Hardball Crusaders, a collection of former pro and independent league players.

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Admission is free, although donations are encouraged. Activities start at 5 p.m. and continue until 10 p.m. Local nonprofit organizations and services are invited to rent space during the event to promote awareness in their areas.

Similar games are planned in New Hampshire at Manchester’s Gill Stadium on Aug. 5 and Massachusetts at Polar Park in Worcester (tentatively on Aug. 22), home of the Red Sox AAA affiliate – the WooSox.

Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Manny Delcarmen, center, pitched one inning last year during the Northeast Tides’ benefit doubleheader in Portland, Maine, at Hadlock Field. He is pictured with Scott and Beverly Bleakley.
Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Manny Delcarmen, center, pitched one inning last year during the Northeast Tides’ benefit doubleheader in Portland, Maine, at Hadlock Field. He is pictured with Scott and Beverly Bleakley.

“We hope to do whatever we can to increase the awareness and raise funds,” Bleakley said.

The Tides hosted a similar event last year to benefit Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The Tides played two games in 2021 – one against all-stars from a local college league and the other vs. the Lexington Blue Sox of the Boston-area Intercity Baseball League. Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Manny Delcarmen, a member of the 2007 World Series championship squad, pitched an inning for the Blue Sox.

“It was a great night of baseball,” Bleakley said. “The weather was great.”

The games raised $3,000 for the Peter Frates Foundation. Frates is best known for starting the ice bucket challenge.

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It was a night to remember for Rochester’s Jon Dube, who caught both games for the Tides. “You have a dream at an early age to make it to one of those big fields one day,” said Dube, who plays for St. Joseph’s College in Standish, Maine. “I was jumping for joy when I stepped on that field.”

“It was like a dream,” said Exeter’s Bobby Cliche, who was the starting pitcher for the Tides in the first game. “Some major leaguers have gone through there. It was kind of cool to get the same feeling that they get playing a game.”

Dover’s Ryan Coleman leads off second base during a game earlier this year in Nashua at Holman Stadium.
Dover’s Ryan Coleman leads off second base during a game earlier this year in Nashua at Holman Stadium.

When planning this year’s event, Bleakley wanted to support something closer to his heart. “My two passions are baseball and mental health,” said Bleakley, who has been a mental health clinician for over 20 years.

Bleakley works for Seacoast Youth Services, which is partnering with The Phoenix (a national non-profit that deals primarily with substance abuse disorder recovery) to sponsor Friday’s game. The Phoenix New Hampshire contact is Hunter Carey, a native of North Hampton. Carey was going to play for the Tides this summer, but he broke his foot before the season to end any chance of that happening. Carey played high school baseball for Phillips Exeter Academy, and college ball for UMass-Amherst and Brown.

“It is a fundraiser, so we’re hoping to expand the programming that we have around the state,” Carey said. “We put on sober-active events around New Hampshire. Whatever we’re doing, these events are completely free for anyone with 48 hours of sobriety. We’d like to expand our program and reach more people” Some of the classes sponsored include boxing, surfing, yoga, rock climbing, crossfit and skateboarding.

Proceeds from each game will benefit a non-profit agency or services in that state.

“With Covid and everything, I’ve been in this field a long time,” Bleakley said. “This is as busy as I’ve ever been. I work mostly with adolescents. I haven’t had to do this too much in my career, but I’ve had to not accept patients  because I’m at my limit. There’s not enough people and too many inquiries. Covid has overwhelmed the field.”

Tommy Lawrence will be the starting pitcher for the Crusaders. A former star at the University of Maine, Lawrence pitched for the Tides in 2020 and 2021. Lawrence was signed by the High Point Rockers of the independent Atlantic League part way through last year. He won 11 games pitching for the Rockers, who are managed by Rochester-native Jamie Keefe.

The Tides are looking forward to facing their former teammate.

“We’re really familiar with Tommy,” Dover’s Ryan Coleman said. “We know what he’s about. He’s going to be bringing his ‘A’ game, so I’m excited about facing him. He’s really good. He’s still got it.”

Local players on the Tides roster include Exeter’s Cliche, Ben Cerrato and Nolan Elmore; Rochester’s Dube, Keagan Calero, Shaun Cormier, Drew Healey and Jordan Gosselin; Dover’s Coleman, Axel Post and Aiden McDonough; Durham’s Owen McKiernan, and Nate Curtis of Eliot, Maine.

Two former players, Ben Gravel (Rochester) and Kyle Maurice (Exeter), signed contracts to play independent league baseball earlier this month – Gravel with the Saranac Lake Surge and Maurice with the High Point Rockers.

The Tides are currently 12-6 – fourth in the 12-team league. They are one of two New Hampshire teams along with the Kingston Night Owls. Northeast has been playing their home games at several fields in the Seacoast – Winnacunnet and Exeter high schools, and Co-op Middle School in Stratham.

“That’s what I like about playing with the Tides,” said Coleman, who is playing college ball at UMass-Amherst. “You get to play against guys you grew up playing against. I like going back home, facing good competition and playing with your old buddies that you grew up with.”

Cormier, Cliche, Curtis and Salem’s Matt Bergeron have been the Tides top starting pitchers, with Cerrato and Henri Boudreau serving as the main relievers.

Northeast made the playoffs the last two years, but was eliminated in the first round each time. “We should make the playoffs this year,” Bleakley said. “We’d like to get the first-round monkey off our backs.”

For informtion, go to the Northeast Tides Baseball Facebook page.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Northeast Tides mental health baseball benefit coming to Hadlock Field