Keene baseball falls to Goffstown after Grizzlies score nine runs in the eighth inning

Christopher Detwiler, The Keene Sentinel, N.H.
·4 min read

Apr. 28—The eighth inning started off bad.

Then it got worse.

Then things just got out of hand.

After keeping things close all afternoon — and even forcing extra innings — the Keene baseball team gave up nine runs in the top of the eighth en route to a 16-9 loss to Goffstown Wednesday at Alumni Field, in a game that was much closer than the final score suggests.

The game was tied at seven after seven innings, but Goffstown's Logan Simmons started off the eighth inning with a solo shot to give the Grizzlies (3-3) a one-run lead.

Still manageable.

Then, Ryan Strand was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a wild pitch, stole third and scored on an error.

Still manageable.

But six more runs would score before Keene could even get the second out of the inning, including three on a homerun from Ryan Cote.

In the blink of an eye, the close game became a blowout.

Keene got a couple of runs back in the bottom of the eighth on a two-run moonshot over the centerfield scoreboard from Sharik Khan — his third hit and the team's 11th of the night — but couldn't dig themselves out of the hole.

"Obviously it's a tough way to lose in that last inning there," said Keene coach Ryan Boden. "But we turned our bats on. Our bats are getting hot. Just have to keep swinging the bats."

The Grizzlies pulled ahead 4-0 after the top of the first inning, but a three-run response from the Blackbirds — two coming from a Joel Beard double into the left-centerfield gap — kept the spirits high in the dugout.

Tanner Payne then gave Keene the lead in the second inning with a two-run homerun over the leftfield fence to energize the team.

In the top of the third, Goffstown took a 7-5 lead (two homeruns in the inning), but Keene kept chipping away and eventually tied things up at seven on an RBI double from Payne in the fifth inning.

"It's something we've been working on," Payne said of the team's efforts to climb back into the game. "At the beginning of the season we were pretty flat, especially if we got down early in the game, so we've definitely been working on keeping high energy through all seven innings. It's been paying off."

That 7-7 score stuck until the top of the eighth.

"This was a great game for us to keep our energy up," Boden said. "Stayed in it the entire game. Our guys were focused on keeping everybody up, keeping the energy high. It was nice to hear the dugout the entire game."

Between the two teams, there were seven homeruns (five for Goffstown, two for Keene) as the ball was carrying all afternoon.

Payne finished with three RBIs on a 2-for-4 day at the plate.

"Feeling pretty good," Payne said. "After that first hit I had — that homerun — I felt pretty confident at the plate and it carried over."

Jack Riendeau also had two hits (2-for-3), including an RBI double in the fourth inning to help Keene cut into the Goffstown lead.

As a team, Keene had 12 hits, its second game in a row with double-digit hits.

"We turned it around from our first couple of games where we were just getting three, four hits a game," Boden said. "We put up double digits again. Back-to-back games. We just have to finish out the game. That's the toughest part."

Owen Aivaliotis got the start for Keene, pitching 2-plus innings, giving up seven runs (all earned) on six hits. Zak Whitney pitched the next 5.1 innings, all scoreless until the eighth inning.

"This is the first team that finally hit Zak," Boden said. "He was getting out towards his max. ... Then they found the holes again. Teams find that one spot and keep hitting it over and over again on us."

Brock Haynes got an out and Quinn Thatcher got the final out to stop the bleeding.

Cam Hujsak got the start for Goffstown, pitching three innings, giving up five runs (two earned) on seven hits. He also hit a three-run homerun in the first inning to put the Grizzlies ahead, 4-0.

Keene (2-6) has a quick turnaround, traveling to Londonderry (5-3) Thursday for a 1 p.m. first pitch. Gavin Rigby is scheduled to get the start.

"Keep the mentality going, keep the bats rolling," Boden said. "Play some defense and hopefully keep the balls in the park this time."

Chris Detwiler can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1411, or cdetwiler@keenesentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @Chris_Detwiler.

Chris Detwiler can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1411, or cdetwiler@keenesentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @Chris_Detwiler.