Bangor cruises, Twins battle to tourney wins

loading...

STANDISH – There are innumerable ways to battle through a losers’ bracket game. Old Town-Orono did it in a most excruciating fashion Monday during the American Legion Baseball State Tournament at St. Joseph’s College.

Ron Coombs delivered an RBI single with one out in the bottom of the 14th inning to lift the Twins to a pressure-packed 11-10 victory over Cumberland in the third round of the Legion tourney.

Bangor cruised into the next round with a 15-4 thrashing of Head-O-Lake in Monday’s second game. Coach Steve Vanidestine’s Comrades (19-8, 2-1) take on 3-0 Sylvania Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

Coach Dave Paul’s team, now 24-3 overall and 2-1 in the eight-team, double-elimination event, plays 2-1 Andrews Post of Portland on Tuesday at 1 p.m.

Tuesday’s winners advance to Wednesday’s championship round.

Cumberland and Head-O-Lake of the Winslow-China area were both eliminated.

Old Town-Orono rebounded from Sunday night’s one-run loss to Sylvania with a gritty, albeit frustrating, effort against Cumberland. The Twins pounded out 16 hits, only to strand 25 runners on base in the four-hour, 19-minute marathon. The Zone 1 champions left the bases loaded six times, including the 14th.

“That was one of the gutsier performances I’ve seen, by both teams,” Paul said. “Obviously, both teams had their chances and we had a few more bases-loaded, first-and-second type chances. Finally, we were fortunate enough to get it done.”

Coach Bob Anthoine’s Cumberland squad, which finished at 22-4, did not trail until Coombs’ game-winning hit. Anthoine referred to the contest as one of the best in which he had ever been involved.

Old Town-Orono relief ace Andy Trice (1-1) pitched five solid innings to earn the victory. He retired nine of the last 10 he faced, getting the other on a double play. Trice struck out five and walked two.

“After throwing two innings last night, (Trice) just kept battling and battling,” Paul said.

The Twins finally ended the drama in the 14th against reliever Greg Brown, Cumberland’s third pitcher of the game. Reserve outfielder Bryan Goody opened with a double to center field and Evan Stinson was walked intentionally.

Trice pushed the runners up with a sacrifice bunt and Marc Halsted was walked on purpose, setting the stage for Coombs, whose high fly ball went over the head of Chris Lord in center.

“Hold them (defensively) and score,” Coombs said of how the Twins approached the tense late-inning situations. “I just wanted it out of the infield,” he said of his hit.

“We left like 25 people on base and it was every inning, but we’d shut them down, so the guys put it behind them and came back strong every inning,” Coombs added.

Cumberland appeared to take the upper hand after scoring twice in the 10th to make it 10-8. Ben Danosky’s two-out, two-run single up the middle off Trice gave the Zone 3 champs the lead.

The Twins answered without hesitation. Chris Hashey laced a leadoff single to left and moved to third when Chris Bagley reached on an error.

Gary Sibley cut the deficit to one with a run-scoring single to right-center and Goody followed with an RBI fielder’s-choice grounder.

“When his opportunity came today, he came in and did the job,” Paul said of Goody. “He’s paid his dues all summer long and he’s done real well.”

Trailing 8-2, the Twins made it an 8-6 game with four runs in the seventh without benefit of a hit. Four errors were instrumental.

Old Town-Orono made it 8-8 in the eighth on singles by Coombs and Hashey, Shane McCannell’s sacrifice bunt, a wild pitch and Bagley’s RBI single.

Bangor’s Matt Kinney belted a three-run home run in the first inning Monday, setting the stage for the Comrades’ lopsided victory over Head-O-Lake.

Eric Murray drilled a solo shot in the Bangor’s two-run second to provide a good cushion for righthander Josh Pressley (6-1), who allowed three hits and four runs through six innings.

“When we get ahead early, we’re a whole different team,” Vanidestine said. “When we get behind, this team seems to press more and we don’t perform as we usually do. When we get some big hits like that, the kids seem to relax and start to hit.”

Vanidestine said he opted to start the 14-year-old Pressley on Monday and save Mark McEwen for Tuesday.

“It was a gamble, because we had to have Mark for tomorrow (Tuesday),” he said. “Josh is a very good young player, but this is a big tournament. He went out and got us the win and now we have Mark for tomorrow. Our rotation is right where it should be.”

Bangor blew the game open with a seven-run seventh inning that was highlighted by Josh Jamieson’s two-run triple and fueled by three Head-O-Lake errors. Chad Scripture pitched three innings of scoreless relief for the Comrades, who collected 13 hits, six of them for extra bases.

The Lakers, 18-6, had threatened in the fourth while trailing 4-1. Head-O-Lakes loaded the bases with nobody out, but Pressley induced a foul popup and was the benefactor of a tailor-made, 6-3 double play.

Jamieson had three hits, including two triples, and three RBIs for the winners, with Tony Fernandez contributing three hits and two RBIs. Kinney knocked in four runs with two hits.

“We didn’t want to go home tonight, so we wanted to come today and play hard, play with pride,” Fernandez said. “The top of the lineup didn’t get much for hits yesterday, but we got some today.”

Hurricanes 9, Andrews 7

(Game 11, Monday) Andrews 400 012 000 – 7 11 1 Sylvania 110 240 10x – 9 9 2

MacDonald, Troubh (5) and Tarkinson; Marden, Whitehouse (2), Bushey (9) and Morton, Marden (2)

Comrades 15, Lakers 4

Bangor Head-O-Lake

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

McEwen, c 4 2 0 1 Michaud, cf-p 3 1 1 0

Perry, c 0 1 0 0 Fernald, cf 1 0 1 0

Murray, rf 2 2 1 1 L.Adams, 1b-p 4 0 0 1

Moore, rf 1 0 0 0 Roach, ss-3b 3 0 1 1

Jamisn, cf- 2b 5 4 3 3 Dunbar, p-ss 4 0 1 0

Fernandez, 3b 6 1 3 2 Ogden, lf 1 0 0 0

Kinney, 1b-2b 4 2 2 4 Gunzinger, c 3 0 0 0

Goldsmith, lf 1 0 0 0 Maxwell, 2b 1 1 1 0

Pressley, p 3 0 0 0 B. Adams, lf 3 1 1 0

Scripture, p 1 0 0 0 Brann, rf 1 0 0 0

Shaw, ss 4 1 1 0 Welch, 3b-p 3 0 0 1

Hunt, ss 0 0 0 0 Gunning, ss-3b 1 0 0 0

Robichaud, 2b 4 0 1 0 Greenleaf, rf 1 1 0 0

McGlcddy, 1b 1 0 1 0 Laflamme, 3b 1 0 0 0

Bowden, lf-cf 3 2 1 0

Totals 39 15 13 11 Totals 30 4 6 3

Bangor 302 100 702 – 15

Head-O-Lake 001 012 000 – 4

E – Shaw; Roach, Maxwell, Dunbar, Welch 2B – Robichaud; D.Adams 3B – Bowden, Jamieson 2; Michaud HR – Kinney, Murray LOB – Bangor 8, Head-O-Lake 9 DP – Shaw to Kinney; Brann to Gunzinger SB – Kinney, Fernandez 2, Bowden 2, Murray, Shaw; Michaud S – Pressley SF – McEwen; L. Adams, Roach

Pitching Summary

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

Bangor

Pressley (W, 6-1) 6 3 4 4 6 4

Scripture 3 3 0 0 1 1

Head-O-Lake

Dunbar (L) 4 6 6 3 2 0

Michaud 2 1/3 2 3 1 3 1

Welch 1/3 0 2 0 1 0

L. Adams 2 1/3 5 4 4 2 2

HBP – Kinney (by Michaud); Gunzinger (by Pressley) WP – Pressley 3; Michaud, L. Adams PB – McEwen; Gunzinger TIME -2:40