The boys Varsity Baseball team finished their season with a record of 6-10 this spring and missed the playoffs by one win.

The team had a rough start to their season going 0-8 which altered the mental aspect of the game. With little hopes for the playoffs, the team’s attitude was almost stuck in the dirt forever until their game against Bow on May 7. The team won 5-2 giving them a sliver of hope for what some may call a comeback on their season.

The two following games after the Bow win, the team won against Coe-Brown Northwood 13-4 and Souhegan 4-1. “There are a lot of things we did wrong in the first half of the season, but we were slowly getting there,” said Max Mello ‘19.

The boys aimed to win the rest of their games after their Bow victory in order to clinch a spot in the 2018 Division II Tournament. “We’re going to make the playoffs. There are fifteen teams. We’re gonna be one of them,” said Joe Brown ‘18, one of HB’s key players, in the middle of their season. With their confidence in hand, the boys had the potential to make a name for themselves as the season continued.  

One of the biggest struggles for the team was the chemistry between players, but the boys have worked their hardest to gel as a group. With many losses on the backs of these players, digging themselves out of the hole was something they had to work very hard at.  “The biggest struggle for us would be maintaining competitiveness after starting 0-8 [in the middle of the season],” said Brown.

The baseball team knew improvements must be made in order to win more games. “One thing I would change is a better mentality,” said Mello. Hoping that this would keep the season in full force, he also touched on some positive aspects. “A few things that we’ve done well this season is everyone being able to make adjustments and working hard in practice,” Mello added.

The baseball team did a nice job of making sure everyone was included in their game. The difference in age from sophomores to seniors did not affect the team in any dramatic way. Grant Snyder ‘20  stated, “Even though we haven’t played for a while as a team [with all ages], there has been no problem gelling as a team even with age difference.”

The boys had one goal in mind and that was to make playoffs by finishing their last four games with a 4-0 record. Unfortunately, the boys played their last game, their senior game, and were defeated on May 23 by Windham where they went into extra innings. They fought until the very last minute, but with Windham’s clutch couple of runs in the 9th inning, HB was unable to overcome the score with their last at bat. The boys fought hard and missed the playoffs by two runs.

There are high hopes for next season as the boys will have a lot of the same players returning, and new players to arrive.