LEBANON — A six-run fourth inning propelled the Lebanon American Legion Post 22 junior baseball team to a 12-9 defeat of Merrimack Post 98 on Saturday at Lebanon High.

The victory improved the hosts to 7-6 in District A this summer as they remain in a five-team logjam behind first-place Keene Post 4, which has lost only twice this season. Four games remain until the end of the regular season on July 23 and it appears the battle for the district’s final three berths will go down to the wire. Merrimack fell to 4-10.

Zach Aldrich led Post 22 on Saturday, tripling and scoring twice during four at-bats. The rising Lebanon High junior has been hot all season, said coach Chauncey Wood, who enjoys the lanky player’s services at Lebanon High.

“He’s been hitting the cover off the ball,” said Wood, whose Post 22 squad received two hits from Aldrich’s classmate and center fielder Nick Brill, who also stole two bases. Six other players had a single hit for the hosts, who led 4-0 after two innings but trailed, 8-4, after Merrimack’s fourth at-bat.

Norwich resident Wyatt Daigle started on the mound for Post 22, allowing four hits and three runs, all earned, during three innings of work. He struck out three batters and walked four. Brill relieved Daigle and surrendered five hits and five runs, three of them earned, while recording one out.

Next out of the bullpen was Bennett Hewett, who pitched 3⅔ innings of shut-down relief. The rising Lebanon High junior allowed one hit and one run while striking out three foes and walking one.

Post 22 starting catcher Ryan Lundrigan, a rising Lebanon High freshman, absorbed a pitch to the batting helmet and was pulled in favor of Holderness School student Zander Doyle. Lundrigan said he had a headache but appeared none the worse for wear. Wood said the 14-year old has played well behind the dish this summer, blocking balls in the dirt and calling his own pitches with a primarily older staff.

Spencer Cunningham also came in for praise from Wood, who said the rising Lebanon High junior has anchored the infield with solid play at third base. Recent Hanover High graduate and former Post 22 player Wes Stocken umpired at home plate, authoritatively calling Post 98’s final batter out on strikes.

“We’re starting to come to gether,” said Wood, whose team next plays Tuesday at Bedford. “We’re still very young and making young mistakes, but we’re starting to fix them and we’re hitting real good. We preach about quality at-bats, getting deep into counts and getting the pitch they like and they’re starting to do that.”

— Tris Wykes

Bellows Falls 10, White River Junction 0 (6) White River Junction 11, Bellows Falls 6

BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. — White River Junction Post 84’s senior team moved to 10-5 with three games remaining in the regular season.

White River Junction is a half game ahead of Bellows Falls Post 37 (9-5) for the South Division’s third and final berth in the upcoming state tournaments. Lakes Region Post 49, the division’s last-place team, gains an automatic tournament berth as the host, leaving three spots up for grabs.

“If we win all three, we’re in,” said Post 84 coach Dylan Spencer, whose squad visits sixth-place Bennington on Wednesday and hosts first-place Brattleboro for a doubleheader three days later. “I think we’re in if we win two, and if we win one, we still have a chance.”

WRJ had only nine players for Saturday’s opener, during which Thetford resident and prep school pitcher Rhys Anderson allowed 15 hits during five-plus innings. He walked one batter and hit another while recording no strikeouts.

“We didn’t really show up ready to play and had no energy behind him,” Spencer said, crediting the rising junior’s perseverance with saving most of his team’s pitching for the second game.

WRJ’s Colin Vielleux started on the mound for the second contest but lasted only into the second inning with arm pain. He was relieved by Thetford Academy’s Justin Robinson, who saw limited time at the position for the Panthers this spring. Nevertheless, the rising junior allowed only three hits and three runs, one of them earned, during 5⅓ innings. He struck out one opponent, walked one, hit two and picked off three.

The visitors trailed, 5-1, after four innings but rallied for a 5-5 tie during the next frame, when Drew Martin forged the deadlock by singling home two runs. The visitors drew two walks and had back-to-back batters hit by pitches to go up, 6-5, in the sixth. Nate Clark, who arrived in time for the second game after missing the first, then delivered a two-run single and Robinson singled to bring another runner across the plate.

“We broke the game open before we even recorded an out,” Spencer said.

Hayes, who injured his arm earlier this summer and isn’t likely to pitch again for Post 84, delivered four hits during Saturday’s second game. The state tournament begins Wednesday, July 27, in Rutland.

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