Portsmouth baseball ready to earn national record back

The Portsmouth (N.H.) baseball team spent much of last spring chasing the national record for consecutive victories. It's a year later, and little has changed.

Even though Portsmouth went 20-0 in 2011 and the program finished the season with a record 83 consecutive wins, it didn't hold the record for long. Martensdale-St. Mary's (Martensdale, Iowa) set a higher standard by extending its winning streak to 87 games last July.

Each school will enter the 2012 season with its winning streak intact, so motivation shouldn't be a problem for a Portsmouth team that has won four consecutive state championships and hasn't lost a game since 2007.

"It is a little extra motivation," Portsmouth shortstop Billy Hartmann said. "You'd think a winning streak like that would be pretty special. What are the chances a team would have the opportunity to break it two years in a row?



"We do want to get the record back, but our goal is to win a state championship. If we can win a state championship and get the record it's the best of both worlds."

Homer (Mich.) held the record of 75 consecutive victories when the 2011 season began. Portsmouth won its 76th game in a row when it beat Pembroke Academy in May.

Portsmouth's streak reached 83 games after it defeated rival St. Thomas (Dover, N.H.) in the Division II championship game last June. Portsmouth coach Tim Hopley said he traded text messages with Martensdale-St. Mary's coach Justin Dehmer several times after Portsmouth's record was broken.

"I was happy for them when they got the record because I know what a grind it is," Hopley said. "It seems like we have some common traits in the way we approach the game. They call themselves One-Pitch Warriors. We don't have that catchy phrase, but that's how we like to break it down.

"We have nine guys back, but it's a different group for us this year. We're in a different stage than we have been the last few years. This is the first year [during the winning streak] that we don't have one or two legitimate Division I players."

Pitcher Keegan Taylor and center fielder Aidan O'Leary are the key pieces Portsmouth will have to replace this spring. Both are now playing Division I college baseball, Taylor for Northeastern and O'Leary for Manhattan. Taylor was 10-0 last season, and 25-0 during his high school career. O'Leary batted .434 and stole a team-high 13 bases as a senior.



Shortstop Mike Fransoso (Maine), outfielder Mike Montville (Maryland), pitcher Ben Hart (Massachusetts) and pitcher Nate Jones (Wake Forest) are the other former Portsmouth players who contributed to the streak and are now playing Division I baseball.

Although St. Thomas returned eight of the nine starters from a team that was second-best last season, many still consider Portsmouth the team to beat. The Clippers have six starters back: Hartmann, catcher Conor Trefethen, third baseman Matt Feeney, second baseman Connor McCauley, pitcher/first baseman Ricky Holt and pitcher/outfielder Kyle Dicesare.

Holt went 7-0 with a 1.49 ERA as Portsmouth's No. 2 starter last season. McCauley led the returning players with a .449 average (31-for-69) last season.

"We have a pretty strong team," Feeney said. "In the past we've had ace pitchers. We don't have that this year. We have a bunch of decent pitchers, but no one the caliber of Taylor or Nate Jones. Our pitchers will rely on our defense more.

"[The winning streak] gives us more motivation for sure. We don't want to be the team that stopped everything. We're still hungry."

Portsmouth's last loss came against Hollis-Brookline in the semifinals of the 2007 Class I tournament. The Clippers moved from Class L to Class I (now Division II) — a move based on the school's decreased enrollment— after the 2006 season.



Longtime Portsmouth fans are familiar with the other side of the coin as well. The Clippers were coming off an 0-18 season when Hopley became the head coach in 1996. The program's losing streak reached 30 games before Hopley collected his first victory as a varsity head coach.

Hopley played center field for the Portsmouth team that won the Class L championship in 1988. The Clippers also qualified for postseason play in 1989, but didn't play another postseason game until 2004.

Portsmouth and Martensdale-St. Marys could play tug of war with the record again this season, since the Blue Devils, who play in Iowa's smallest classification (Class 1A), won't begin their season until May 21.

"For us it's never been about winning X number of games in a row," Hopley said. "We don't even talk about it. It's always been about being the last team standing. I think we have enough guys who understand the big picture."