LONDONDERRY — One way or the other, the last pitch was bound to provide a storybook ending to the first-round Division I baseball tournament baseball game played at Lancer Park.

With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, eighth-seeded Londonderry (11-9) had runners on second and third base with Dan Kinnon, perhaps the best pure hitter in the division, stepping to the plate and representing the winning run.

“It was a nervous and stressful situation but it was also every pitcher's dream to go out and get the final out against a great hitter in a big game,” said Trinity's southpaw reliever Andrew Currier.

With first base open, Currier wanted to work the corners, but watched in horror as his first pitch fastball tailed over the heart of the plate. Kinnon, a .417 hitter, involved every ounce of his body in the swing.

Coming off the bat, the ball looked as if it might become a walk-off homer, but Joe Libby reached up to make a shoulder-high catch at the base of the center field fence to preserve ninth-seeded Trinity's (10-9) thrilling 4-2 win and a Saturday quarterfinal meeting at top-seeded Concord.

Starting pitchers Ryan Moloney of Londonderry and Trinity's Carmen Giampetruzzi took no-hit bids into the fifth inning. The Pioneers took advantage of some defensive miscues to build a 4-0 lead. Sam Kasten plated a run with a suicide squeeze bunt in the third. In the fifth, Mike Leonard and Ryan Slatky punched run-producing singles through infield holes generated by baserunners on the go, and Nick Beeson scored on a double-steal play.

Londonderry responded with Kinnon doubling home Jake Welch before scoring on an overthrow on Robbie DelSignore's infield single. Mike Ryan opened the seventh with a single. Currier entered the game, sandwiching flyouts around Welch's single to set up the drama with Kinnon.

“We weren't going to intentionally walk him,” said Trinity coach Ed Poisson. (Kinnon's) a great kid and an outstanding athlete, I told Alex (Currier) this was the moment he'd been waiting for, go get the out.”

Kinnon didn't expect he would see anything good to hit. “I saw the fastball coming down the middle. It was right in my wheelhouse and I thought, “Get after it.' It ended up a little short. Baseball is a game of failure. Sometimes you need a little luck.”

“I thought it was out,” said Libby. I started running back like crazy hoping for a chance and trying to get a win for “G” who threw a heck of a game.”

Sitting in the dugout, G, or Giampetruzzi, also thought Kinnon had hit a nightmarish three-run dinger. He'd had his hopes dashed before this season, going 5-3 while allowing just four runs, all unearned, in his losses.

The sophomore, Trinity's starting quarterback, hoops small forward and southpaw pitcher, earned the win with a gutsy performance in the sixth after Kinnon scored making it 4-2. He induced two rally-killing fly outs with high fastballs while the Lancers had runners on second and third “This year he's done a lot of growing up playing three sports as an outstanding student athlete. Now nothing rattles him,” said Poisson.

Giamppetruzzi snapped some nasty curves while striking out six, walking two and allowing five hits. Moloney, Londonderry's junior righty, matched his counterpart's effort, allowing five hits while striking out four with one walk.

“It all came down to that one pitch,” said Currier, normally Trinity's No. 2 starter. “I got a little lucky. Thankfully it turned out to be long out.”