Flash back to Holman Stadium early last June, when the crowd was electric with Nashua High School North giving heavily favored Pinkerton Academy all it could handle, all the way to extra innings.

An electric freshman reliever, Nolan Sullivan, threw beebees with the greatest of ease. No fear. Lots of fun. It was incredible atmosphere.

“Unbelievable,” North coach Zach Harris said the other night. “It was unbelievalbe.”

After that game, Harris sent out a message through the media that baseball is something kids would want to be a part of.

And now he, his staff, and South coach James Gaj and his are looking to keep that flame alive. They all met earlier this week with Nashua Cal Ripken Baseball League officials on how to promote the game and get the youths aspiring to eventually be playing for either high school. In other words, improve baseball overall in Nashua.

“Figure out a way to make baseball special in Nashua,” Harris said. “And make kids excited to play baseball. Last year when I said ‘Why wouldn’t you want to play here’, I didn’t mean just at North, I meant why wouldn’t you want to play baseball in Nashua?”

Gaj remembers the days in Nashua when there were tryouts just to make a Babe Ruth team.

“We all want to make baseball thrive,” Gaj said.

The overture was made by Gaj’s pitching coach, Bryce Sarber, who was talking with Cal Ripken official Matt Demers, and see if someone from the schools could fill a vacant seat on the Cal Ripken board as the director of player development.

It makes a ton of sense. “We’re trying to figure out the best way to do this,” Gaj said. “Figure out what we could do to help out, what they need.”

Gaj learned a lot from B.J. Neverett, and he feels the coaches in the city at all levels don’t have that mentor,etc. Harris and Gaj go together to coaches clinics, etc. “Anywhere we possibly can to learn,” Gaj said.

Somewhere up there in the next life, Bill Twomey is smiling. Twomey, before his passing a few years ago, was Mr. Baseball in Nashua. He would keep a bat and some balls in the trunk of his car and if he saw two kids playing at a field he’d stop and join them, hit them fungoes, etc. We had the conversation about what was wrong with baseball in Nashua many times.

Now, the Legion state tourney is always at Holman, and of course Coffey Post made big news making the Northeast Regional Finals in Worcester two summers ago. It got attention, but did it capture the city? That was some team, it should have.

Gaj and Harris felt the meeting the other night went well. Good, because baseball in Nashua needs a boost.

“It does,” Gaj said. “Bryce is all about it. He set that up. We contacted Zach, and Zach was all about it. We’ve been trying to get these guys together for a long time.”

“Coach Gaj and I want to unite Nashua better, and better for everybody,” Harris, who remembers days in Merrimack when MYA kids would basically worship the high school players. said. “We’ve got that gorgeous field right behind Holman, we can flip the lights on and do something.”

They’re doing something right now, and it’s a great start. Baseball’s back, in more ways than one.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on X @Telegraph _TomK.