Exeter 3, Winnacunnet 1
- Updated: June 14, 2025
There was no letdown for the Exeter High School baseball team.
After eliminating previously unbeaten and top-seeded Pinkerton Academy in Wednesday’s semifinals, fifth-seeded Exeter beat rival Winnacunnet 3-1 in Saturday Division I championship game.
Junior Brennan Schimoler collected three hits, inlcuding an RBI single in the second inning, and pitched 2.1 scoreless innings of relief for the Blue Hawks (18-5).
“I was told I might have a chance to get on the mound and I was really excited to hear that,” Schimoler said. “I was fired up to get out there and try to get our team a championship.”
The Blue Hawks grabbed a 2-0 lead by scoring twice in the third. Mike Caron drove in Hayden Schimoler with a double, and then Caron scored on Brennan Schimoler’s RBI single.
Fifth-seeded Winnacunnet (13-11) trimmed its deficit to 2-1 when Braeden O’Hara scored on an infield error in the fifth, but Exeter led 3-1 after Cam Piwnicki delivered a two-out single that scored Brennan Schimoler in the bottom of the fifth.
Nolan Engler started on the mound for Exeter. He allowed an unearned run on two hits in 4.2 innings. Harvey Reynoso had two of Winnacunnet’s four hits.
Exeter beat Winnacunnet 10-0 in Exeter during the regular season.
“We played that team as well as anybody has played them in the playoffs — better than anyone’s played them,” Winnacunnet coach Aaron Abood said. “We were in the game. We had a shot at the end. They got a couple big hits with runners in scoring position to put the pressure on us, and we really didn’t come up with that hit with runners in scoring position.
“They’re a great team. Well-coached, and they deserved the championship this year.”
It was Exeter’s first Division I championship since 2018.
“It doesn’t get any better than this,” Exeter coach Bruce Joyce said. “We couldn’t have drawn it up any better.”
Pinkerton beat Exeter 9-0 in last year’s championship game.
“It means so much to us,” Brennan Schimoler said. “We wanted to win it this year more than anything after last year. Our group chat name was Vengeance. We had a tough playoff bracket. We knew it was our year.”
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