EXETER — The Portsmouth High School baseball team started the season 1-8, but the Clippers won their final two games of the regular season and earned the 15th-and-final seed in the Division I tournament with a 7-12 record.
The Clippers stunned No. 2 Pinkerton, 3-1 in a first-round game on Wednesday, June 3, and Portsmouth’s magical run added another chapter on Saturday, June 6 with a 6-5 quarterfinal win over seventh-seeded Exeter, the defending Division I state champions.
“We’re the No. 15 seed, and we’re now in the semifinals,” Portsmouth senior Zavier Lampert said. “Obviously, no one was expecting us to do this, but we know what kind of team we are. We believe in ourselves. We just keep executing and keep winning games, and that’s all that matters.”Portsmouth will play No. 6 Londonderry on Wednesday, June 10 at Holman Stadium. Londonderry advanced with a 9-0 win over Spaulding. Portsmouth beat Londonderry, 10-9 in the third game of the regular season.“Gritty, that’s all I’ve got to say,” Portsmouth catcher Hugh Herter said. “I don’t know how we keep getting it done, but we do. We’re a good team together … we just keep getting it done, and it’s impressive.”The Clippers scored the go-ahead run in the sixth inning when Herter came home from third on an Exeter error to give Portsmouth a 6-5 lead.“It’s all house money when you’re a 15 seed,” Portsmouth head coach Tim Hopley said. “It’s like everybody’s saying, ‘Here’s some cash, see how long you can make it last.’ And these guys have kind of latched on to that.”After Portsmouth’s upset of No. 2 Pinkerton in the first round, Hopley said the team returned the next day with a clear mindset.“We just went out there and they said, ‘Let’s let it ride,’” Hopley said. “We’re not pulling the chips back now. We’re just going to let it ride and take it as long as we can.”The Clippers have now beaten the 2024 Division I state champions (Pinkerton) and the 2025 champions (Exeter). Next up is Londonderry, which won the title in 2023.Exeter, the defending champion, finishes the season at 13-8 after a 2-0 first-round win over Concord.“Obviously, it’s a tough ending,” Exeter head coach Bruce Joyce said. “It was a huge group of seniors who wanted to get back there again. They wanted to bring our program back to our third semifinal in a row, but you’ve got to give credit to this Portsmouth team. They’re not playing like a 15 seed. They’re dangerous and have a lot of energy.”
Portsmouth’s Stacy slams the door
One of 11 first-year varsity players for Portsmouth, freshman Cam Stacy performed like a seasoned veteran to close out Saturday’s game.Stacy entered with the bases loaded in the fifth after Exeter scored two runs to tie the game at 5-5. He got Adam Carrella to fly out to right field to strand all three runners.He recorded the final seven outs, sealing the win by striking out Exeter’s Will Tobin to end the game.“I just try to throw strikes — that’s the only thing you can control,” Stacy said. “It was a big relief after the final out. We were so happy … we keep moving on and it’s amazing.”Stacy did issue a walk that helped set up Exeter’s game-tying rally, but regrouped to get Cam Crombie on a force out before striking out Tobin.
Back-and-forth affair
Portsmouth took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, which held until Exeter’s Brennan Schimoler launched a three-run home run to left field to give the Blue Hawks a 3-2 edge.The Clippers answered in the fourth, starting with a bases-loaded walk drawn by Max Herter. Jackson Hooper followed with a two-run single to left, scoring Blaze Bocash and Hugh Herter to give Portsmouth a 5-3 lead.“Starting 1-8, we know how to be down,” Lampert said. “We’re not scared of it, we’re not worried about it. We know we’ll get our runs, and we know people will show up in big situations — and it’s been happening for us.”Exeter answered with two runs in the fifth, as Ben Wissler scored on an infield single by Tobin and Ethan Battles came home on a Portsmouth error to tie it at 5-5.
“We’ve definitely worked really hard the past couple of days to get to where we are,” Hugh Herter said. “It wasn’t necessarily pretty, but we got the job done. We kept our heads up and had a bunch of energy.”“The number of times they’ve talked about doubling down on the Clippers in the last three days, since Wednesday (is amazing),” Hopley said. “They’re completely bought into that and are betting on themselves.”
