Jason Pinsonnault's blistering summer with Booma Post 6: No rust for ace pitcher

PORTSMOUTH — It had been a full year since Jason Pinsonnault last took the mound to start a baseball game.

There was no apparent rust to be shaken off as Pinsonnault has been stellar this summer for Portsmouth Booma Post 6, after not seeing any game action in his freshman year at Western New England University (24-20). He has a 5-0 record and allowed just one run in more than 36 innings in the regular season, earning three straight New Hampshire American Legion baseball Pitcher of the Week awards.

"It feels really good (winning the awards) and I've felt really good," said Pinsonnault, 19, a Hampton resident. "I've had good command over all three pitches .... which doesn't happen all of the time. ... I think that's been a big part of why I've been able to have the success recently that I have."

The first honor came on June 25 when he earned co-Pitcher of the Week honors with Hayden Pond of Weare Post 65. Pinsonnault went seven innings, allowed one unearned run on three hits and fanned nine batters. The following week, he went seven shutout innings, allowed four hits and struck out five. The next week he had another seven-inning shutout, with six shutouts and just one hit allowed.

Last week, Pinsonnault, a 2023 Winnacunnet High School graduate, went a complete seven innings, allowed zero runs on five hits and struck out nine batters in Portsmouth's 7-0 win over Salem.

Pinsonnault's eye-popping numbers for Booma Post 6

Pinsonnault's final regular season stats are 36 1/3 innings pitched, 17 hits allowed, six walks and 39 strikeouts. He has a 0.14 ERA with a 0.63 WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched). He, of course, will be called upon when Booma, District B's No. 1 seed, opens state tournament play against District A No. 4 seed Bedford Friday at Holman Stadium in Nashua.

Pinsonnault has retired the leadoff batter in 26 of 36 innings, has pitched 1-2-3 innings 15 times and tossed fewer than 13 pitches in 25 innings.

Booma catcher Duncan Cullinane, who has caught Pinsonnault once this summer, said the right-hander's performance level has been "pretty ridiculous."

"This summer, he's been nuts," Cullinane said. "Hitting spots, his stuff is moving, he's just been electric, absolutely electric."

The remainder of Pinsonnault's starts were caught by Bailey Wright. Wright said Pinsonnault's pitches are moving more than last summer "by a lot," headlined by the addition of a splitter.

"He's just been amazing," Wright said. "Really not walking anyone, he's been around the zone, his stuff is always moving. He's been able to control it a lot more this summer, he's just been attacking hitters and he's been successful every time he's out there."

Booma head coach Geoff Jablonski said the team knew it would rely heavily on Pinsonnault as a college athlete, but it wasn't certain how many pitches he could throw per game after a lack of game action this spring.

"And he has just come out and he's just been an absolute horse," Jablonski said. "He's not walking guys, he's been efficient and he's been incredible."

Jablonski said the biggest difference for Pinsonnault since last summer is consistently throwing strikes.

"He's in the strike zone so much more than he had been," Jablonski said.

Pinsonnault said a 9-0 win over Exeter stands out as his best start.

"I think that one was definitely my favorite," he said. "I did really well that game, I felt really good and everything was working."

Pinsonnault says he never lost confidence

Pinsonnault, a rising college sophomore, said he knew that going into his freshman season it would be tough to get innings with a lot of upperclassmen ahead of him, but he was still able to get in work in other ways.

"I knew I was going to come in (this summer) and throw well, I did well here last year, but this has definitely been better than I expected," he said. "I was definitely confident coming in. I knew I was going to be able to come in and get outs. Not to this level, I don't think, but I was pretty confident."

More: Four Portsmouth baseball standouts bond one final summer with Booma Post 6

Pinsonnault said he didn't get discouraged at all as the spring season went on at Western New England, a Division III program in Springfield, Massachusetts, and he didn't see time on the mound. Western New England lost to Endicott College in the conference championship game.

"I got a lot of work in, a lot of (bullpen sessions), a lot of live (at-bats) against really good competition," Pinsonnault said. "I think it was a really good experience, and I'm excited to go back in the fall."

Editor's note: Jason Pinsonnault is a son of Jay Pinsonnault, Seacoast Media Group's sports editor.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Jason Pinsonnault's blistering summer with Booma Post 6: No rust for ace pitcher