The Lebanon American Legion Post 22 junior baseball team is heading to the playoffs.

Post 22 picked up a 15-9, eight-inning victory in a makeup game at first-place Keene on Sunday to secure the No. 3 seed in District A. Lebanon will play Exeter, the No. 2 seed in District B, in the first round at Manchester’s Gill Stadium on Friday afternoon.

Chauncey Wood’s squad trailed by four entering the fifth inning before exploding for seven runs in that frame to storm into the lead. But Keene bounced back with three in the sixth to tie the game, and after the teams exchanged runs in the seventh, Post 22 broke out again with a six-run eighth that was the difference.

Bennett Hewett, a rising Lebanon High junior, got the win in relief despite allowing four runs, walking five and striking out just three.

Zach Aldrich and Ben Achmoody, also incoming juniors at Lebanon, had two hits apiece, with Achmoody picking up four RBIs. Another member of the Lebanon rising junior class, Spencer Cunningham, was 1-for-3 with three RBIs and three runs scored.

“This team dug deep on several occasions to come back and eventually take the lead over a tough Keene team,” Wood said. “We are going into playoffs confident.”

The New Hampshire state tournament is double elimination, and Post 22’s second game will be Saturday regardless of Friday’s result. The first three days will be played at Gill Stadium, with the final rounds held at Holman Stadium in Nashua.

The Post 22 juniors last made the playoffs in 2019, reaching the semifinals before losing to Nashua.

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