Seacoast Sports Decade Series: Mini-Mac, Tobin and the ascension of PCA baseball – Seacoastonline.com

Ten years ago as a Portsmouth Christian Academy seventh-grader, Ryan McKenna played a key role in the Eagles run to the schools first Division IV state baseball championship.

By Mike Whaley / mwhaley@seacoastonline.com

Editors Note: This is the second in an ongoing series on significant local sporting moments and events from the past decade.

Former St. Thomas Aquinas High School and Portsmouth Christian Academy baseball star Ryan McKenna is still chasing his dream to play major league baseball.

In his sixth season with the Baltimore Orioles organization, McKenna, 23, was added to the Orioles 40-man roster during the offseason to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. On March 6 he was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk.

Ten years ago as a Portsmouth Christian Academy seventh-grader, McKenna played a key role in the Eagles run to the schools first Division IV state baseball championship.

Five years later, led by righty ace Wes Tobin, PCA won its second D-IV state crown. Had McKenna, a resident of Berwick, Maine, not transferred to St. Thomas after his freshman year, he would have been a senior on that PCA squad.

But in 2010, the Eagles entered the season without much to show in the way of postseason success. In fact that championship year began with three straight losses.

The kids were getting down on themselves, recalled assistant coach Marty McKenna, the father of two PCA players, Sean and Ryan. Then they were able to reel off some wins and build some confidence.

Looking back, Marty said, The mindset coming in wasnt of high expectations because of the history and being a smaller school. A lot of kids came out to have fun. Winning might have been secondary.

Head coach Chip Andrews and Marty were able to change that approach to being the best we could be and getting the best out of the kids, Marty said.

The New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association allows under Grade 9 participation, but only in Division IV can seventh graders play, and only when the roster is diminished.

Ryan McKenna, called Mini-Mac by his teammates, started the season with the junior high squad, but several injuries necessitated pulling up a player or two from the junior high team.

I talked to Chip, said Marty. I told him I think (Ryan) can help us. He can catch a fly ball. He can get us some hits. It was kind of a miracle he was able to come up and help us. So many kids across the board were part of this.

PCA ended the regular season with a 9-5 record, good for the sixth seed in the D-IV tournament. In the first round, the Eagles dispatched No. 11 Derryfield, 6-1, behind a Connor Andrews six-hitter.

In the quarters, the Eagles upset No. 3 Lisbon with a wild 10-8 win in nine innings. PCA led 7-2, but Lisbon came back to tie it up 8-8 to force extra innings.

With the Panthers rallying in the bottom of the seventh, the Eagles called in catcher Mitch Colizzi, who had not pitched all season, to put out the fire. He did that and then pitched two additional shutout innings for the win.

In the ninth, Sean McKenna walked, scoring what proved to be the game-winning run on Kris Sabas double. Ryan McKennas sac fly plated Saba with an insurance run.

PCA got a break in the semis when talented No. 2 Pittsfield had some key players suspended and was upset by No. 7 Sunapee. Pittsfield had beaten the Eagles twice during the season.

PCA fell behind early to Sunapee, 3-1, but a four-run second put it ahead for good, 5-3, and a four-run fourth put it away. Andrews did the rest. In addition to hitting a key two-run single during the fourth inning uprising, he pitched well after a rocky start. He allowed just one run over the final five innings.

A couple of junior high kids paced the offense. Mini-Mac was 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI, while eighth-grader Ryan Lemire went 2 for 2 with two walks and a run.

No. 1 and defending champion Pittsburg was the final opponent at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester.

Pittsburg was just a strong hitting team, Marty said. They could pretty much hit any fastball, and Mitch and Sean realized early in the game they were struggling with the curveball. So Sean probably threw 80% curveballs. He was dialed in. They were just swinging and missing.

It was tied 1-1 after six innings. In the top of the seventh, Ricky Gilberts second hit of the day, a bloop single, put the go-ahead run on first. Andrew Cunningham was summoned to pinch run. Sean McKenna came up and belted a triple to the left-field warning track, scoring Cunningham all the way from first base to put PCA ahead, 2-1.

Sean was able to close the deal in the bottom of the seventh. I remember Isaac Moore catching the final out and the celebration, Marty said. It was almost surreal. You didnt expect it.

He pauses for a second. When I look back at all the pieces that went into winning that championship, a movie has to be made because it was so improbable.

Improbable was not the case for the 2015 Eagles, who went 12-4 during the regular season to earn the No. 3 seed.

PCA also had a legit ace in Tobin, who ended up going 9-0 that season.

But the start, like 2010, was not smooth. The Eagles went 1-2 out of the gate, including a mercy-rule loss to rival Newmarket. It was painful for Tobin who was suspended after being thrown out of the previous game. He had to spend the Newmarket game on the bench as a spectator. It was not fun to just sit and watch, he said.

We had a gut-check moment where the season could have gone one of two ways, said coach Brad Taylor. We had Connor Foley, a senior captain. His leadership ... he really stepped up. Foley got it. We missed him the following year in our repeat attempt.

Foley also elevated his game as the Eagles No. 2 pitcher behind Tobin.

It was a deep team. It was a terrific group of guys, said Tobin, currently an ace pitcher at Southern New Hampshire University. We had a lot of talent for Division IV New Hampshire baseball.

In the first round, Tobin tossed a no-hitter, whiffing 19 as the Eagles blanked No. 14 Lisbon, 9-0. He struck out the first 13 batters he faced.

Catcher Joe Towle paced the offense, going 4 for 4 with four runs batted in.

The quarterfinal against No. 6 Woodsville proved a struggle. PCA trailed 4-3 in the fourth before finally pulling ahead for good, sparked by an Ethan Foley suicide squeeze bunt. The Eagles went on to win 10-5, led by Drew McCormack who went 2 for 3 with two RBIs and two runs.

Next up was perennial tournament contender and rival Newmarket, the No. 7 seed. The Eagles almost blew them out.

Almost.

PCA scored nine runs in the first two innings to go up 9-0, led by Paul Staude, who had a monster offensive game, going 3 for 4 with six RBIs. He hit a three-run triple in the first and a two-run double in the second to ignite the PCA bats.

The Mules, however, refused to wilt. They touched Tobin for three runs in the fifth to cut the lead to 9-3. Taylor elected to pull his tiring ace after throwing 81 pitches so he could be available for the championship on Saturday.

At the time, the NHIAA pitching rule was based on innings, not pitch counts. If you pitched more than five full innings then you needed three full days of rest. Since the game was played on a Wednesday and Tobin came out after five, he was good to go for the final. Had he thrown at least one pitch in the sixth, he would have been on the shelf.

PCA just needed Connor Foley to close the door over the final two innings.

If your No. 2 pitcher is not good enough to hold a six-run lead then were not going to win a state championship anyway, was how coach Taylor put it.

Foley got the job done, allowing one run in two innings to send PCA to the championship game in Manchester with a 10-4 win.

Sunapee, PCAs championship opponent, was not as fortunate.

The Lakers pulled their ace, Ben Robinson, after the fifth with a big lead, but it dissolved and he had to return in the seventh inning to put out the fire and save the game. However, he found himself unable to pitch in the championship due to the pitching rule.

I still think we would have handled (Robinson) OK, Taylor said. That team, that year, the depth of our lineup ... we were stronger than 2016, although a lot of the guys came back.

The way Tobin pitched, it didnt matter.

PCA jumped out to a 4-0 lead and rolled from there, taking the title, 10-1. Like he had in the first playoff game, Tobin whiffed 19 batters while throwing a one-hitter. His 49 Ks in three playoff games could well be a tournament record.

He gave up his only run in the third inning, walking four batters to account for Sunapees lone run.

Towle led the offense, going 3 for 4 with three RBIs and two runs. Tobin helped his cause with a 2-for-2 effort at the plate, a double, a run and two intentional walks.

One thing was for certain, Tobin was not coming out. My competitive nature and wanting to win and wanting to win very badly that year, especially that year, he said, I just kept on going.

If nothing else, Tobin seemed to throw harder later in the game. Sunapee coach Thomas Frederick said as much.

He owned the hill today, Frederick said. You tip your cap to him. I thought hed be a little tired after throwing (81 pitches) the other day. Once he was over 120, I thought he kept getting stronger.

Tobin said, I was just on pure adrenaline and competitiveness getting to that point and not wanting to lose.

After those two championship wins, the Eagles seemed lined up for more titles, but it was not to be. Two years later, in 2012, the two McKennas led PCA to an undefeated record and the top seed in the tournament, but they were upset in the semis by yes good old Newmarket.

In 2016, the Eagles flew high again, but it all ended in the semis to Sunapee and Ben Robinson. Tobin took the loss, his first in two years after winning 19 straight.

Taylor laughs. People say you won because you had Wes Tobin, he recalled. We like to say we won it without Ryan McKenna.

Ryan McKenna did not respond to multiple requests to participate in this story.

More:

Seacoast Sports Decade Series: Mini-Mac, Tobin and the ascension of PCA baseball - Seacoastonline.com