Taken from the pages of the Nashua Telegraph, 6 Aug 1998, story by Tony Oliver, photo by Peter Carvelli.
Manchester - Nashua's Coffey Post 3 American Legion Baseball team won its first state championship in eight years on Wednesday night at Gill Stadium, but not without a lesson in humility from two-time defending champion Jutras Post of Manchester.
Jutras Post scored seven runs with two outs in the fourth inning en route to a 16-4 decision in the first game of the double-elimination finals, erasing the frustration of three straight losses to Nashua this season and setting up another game to determine the champion of the tournament.
But Coffey Post's Nick Galbo provided the steadying influence in the nightcap with a solid pitching performance in an 8-6 win, sending Nashua to the New England Regionals for the first time since 1991. The tournament will be held next week in Quincy, Mass.
Galbo pitched seven-plus strong innings and Aaron Gureckis supplied the bulk of the offense with two doubles, four hits, two stolen bases and two runs scored. He also drew a bases-loaded walk in the decisive three-run fifth.
Gureckis and Galbo made the all-tournament team with teammates catcher Casey Geddes, first baseman Matt Bleau, outfielder Jesse Palanski and utility player Jon Matte. Hudson outfielder Shawn Houle also landed a spot on the team.
Galbo pitched out of bases-loaded trouble in the first inning and surrendered three runs in the third, but kept Jutras at bay while the offense did the rest.
Matte delivered Bleau with a double in the second inning and in the third, Palanski drove in Matt McKenna with a single and scored himself on a Bleau double.
In the fifth, Nashua put together a rally that was capped by a Matte RBI single and bases-loaded walks drawn by McKenna and Gureckis for a 6-3 lead.
Nashua added two in the seventh on a Matt Ciardelli triple to score Gureckis and another RBI single by Palanski.
The insurance runs offset single runs by Jutras Post in the sixth and seventh innings.
The first game found Coffey Post with a 4-1 lead in the fourth inning, needed only to hang on to win the tournament. Bit Jutras put together a seven-run spree in the fourth and wen on to pound Nashua.
Coffey Post left 15 runners on base in the defeat, but cashed enough opportunities in the second game to extend their season past the state tournament for only the second time this decade.
