BY RYAN O'CONNOR

Going into a doubleheader with Plymouth, the Concord American Legion junior baseball team held a 4-6 record and was on the outside looking in at the fourth and final playoff spot.

But after a two-game sweep of Plymouth, the team previously ahead of them, Concord players are now preparing for the postseason, carrying a 6-6 record and sole possession of the last tournament bid.

Following the games, manager Averill Cate said he found out Plymouth will not move on, even if it finishes ahead of his squad, because the local high school football coach is forbidding his gridiron players from participating.

Though the news guarantees his team the playoffs, Cate said he would rather his team earn the berth and noted he was disappointed to hear of the Plymouth policy.

“They call themselves educators and then they put that kind of pressure on them,” he said. “Well, that’s a laugh and a half.”

Playing its final week, the Concord senior team’s players didn’t fare as well as their junior counterparts.

After winning two in a row and gaining some positive momentum,  Concord lost its final two in-division regular season games to complete the summer with a 7-13 record.

Concord lost at Laconia, 9-6, on July 25, and to Exeter, 7-5, during a rainout make-up game on Friday, July 27.

But Cate was quick to note that many of his younger players stepped up their play the final two weeks after two of his veterans were suspended.

Hopkinton’s David Brandt, going into his senior year of high school, and Concord’s John Andersch, who recently graduated, both contributed.

Thomas Mullen of Concord, also entering his senior year, was one of the team’s best finds, playing second base and making consistently solid contact at the plate, said Cate.

The team’s final three non-division games have been canceled, said Cate, so the players and coaches can  concentrate on the junior squad’s playoff run.