The Merrimack baseball squad concluded its Tuesday afternoon practice in preparation for Saturday's Division I championship game against top-seeded Concord with an inclusive and popular drill, even though its inventor wasn't present.

A Merrimack coach since 2002, Ryan Anderson, the creator of a competitive hitting, fielding and conditioning drill termed “chase,'' resigned his post, along with former athletics director Andy Krahling, just prior to the third-seeded Tomahawks' 2-0 semifinal win over defending champion Nashua North last Thursday.

On Tuesday, acting head coach Jim Davala, a longtime assistant who once served as Anderson's high school and American Legion baseball coach in Nashua, conducted practice and monitored the chase drill.

Other than saying the team was devastated by Anderson's resignation and missed his practice presence, Davala preferred not to speak about the matter. Rather than obsess over the void, players wanted to focus attention on winning the title game.

Davala and assistant coaches Mike Shupe and Kevin Moyer will mentor the Tomahawks in the championship game. Davala, a Granite State baseball figure for the past three decades, is in his ninth year at Merrimack. He and Anderson swapped manager and coach titles for two seasons four years ago. Both preach dedication, discipline and desire.

Merrimack (16-5) is on quite a role, riding a 13-game win streak. Eleven were shut out victories. The club lost its first three games, including a 2-1 extra-inning affair to Concord.

“We were a little more individually oriented early on,” said senior pitcher Tom Hudon. “We're completely different. It's all about team now.”

The team bond came in handy this week.

“In a crisis situation, family pulls together. Though I haven't been present, I've been told that the team's been family this week,” Anderson said.

Anderson resigned to prevent the possibility of Merrimack of having to forfeit the semifinal game because of his appearance at the team's practice activities before its quarterfinal contest, a 6-1 triumph over Exeter.

Anderson had been suspended from the quarterfinal and semifinal because he was ejected from the team's preliminary-round, extra-inning 1-0 win over Alvirne of Hudson.

It was the veteran coach's first-ever ejection from a high school game. The 2007 New Hampshire Union Leader Coach of the Year could also not ever recall receiving other less severe reprimands like a dugout restriction, from an umpire.

While serving the suspension, the now former coach believed it was possible to take part in team warm-up activities and then leave the park before the competition commenced (see accompanying letter).

According to the NHIAA rule book, any coach who is disqualified “... shall not participate in the next two scheduled interscholastic athletic events...” Furthermore, according to the rule book, “any coach who is disqualified and participates in the next scheduled interscholastic athletic event, including NHIAA tournament contests, will cause that school's game or event to be forfeited in the event of a win.”

Midway through the season, Anderson said that, win or lose, coaching this team would go down as one of his most special experiences. His departure from the program, according to Hudon, is “just one more reason for us to win on Saturday.”

Anderson will be watching from the grandstand Saturday, in street clothes.

“I wouldn't miss it for the world,” he said.

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Eric Emmerling may be reached at eemmerling@unionleader.com.