2 coaches disappointed as Bangor, Brewer split> Falcons narrowly take opener by getting win on wild pitch; Comrades pummel Falcons in nightcap

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BREWER – With the American Legion baseball regular season a little more than halfway finished, you could say that nothing was decided by the twinbill split between No. 1 Bangor and No. 3 Brewer at Heddericg Field on Sunday.

But ask the coaches, and they’ll tell you something else.

Ask Brewer’s David Gonyar and he’ll dwell on Bangor’s 12-2 drubbing of his team in the second game.

Ask Bangor’s Steve Vanidestine and he’ll say he’s upset for the same reason: Brewer won the opener in a 7-6 thriller that stood between the Comrades and a sweep.

What was decided, both will admit, is that both teams have a long way to go before the Zone 1 playoffs.

“I just know that in the first game, I expect them to get up there and play hard, and compete, and have confidence in themselves, and they did that,” Gonyar said.

But the coach’s punchline gets to the meat of a 45-minute postgame dressing down he gave his players.

“In the second game, I don’t expect any less. Yet, I don’t feel we got that.”

Vanidestine insists that his top two goals are making the four-team Zone 1 playoffs and staying healthy.

But after his team took the lead in the top of the seventh in the first game before falling 7-6 on a wild pitch, he admitted the loss bothered him.

“I was disappointed and I’m still not real pleased,” Vanidestine said. “But at least we got one.”

Bangor moved to 9-3, while Brewer is 8-4. Old Town-Orono is 8-3 after a Saturday sweep.

In the first game, the Comrades spotted Brewer a 4-0 lead in the first inning, on two errors, two walks and a timely double by Dennis Roy, but battled back to take the lead in the top of the seventh by when starter Chris Soper walked the first two batters he faced and reliever Bruce Morneault wasn’t able to quell the rally.

Pat Estey keyed the uprising with a single that drove in two runs and put the Comrades up 6-5. Estey had homered down the line in right to within 5-4 in the sixth.

But Brewer answered quickly in the bottom of the seventh, as Mike Kane led off by singling sharply to right, Roy followed with a groundball single to left, and Jason Dority walked on four pitches by hard-luck loser Mark Alaimo (1-2).

Bucksport High sophomore Chad Gilley, the No. 8 hitter in the order, answered by hitting a 1-1 pitch in the shortstop hole to drive in Kane.

On the next pitch, the Falcons ended it when Roy scampered home on a wild pitch on a sharp-breaking curve by Alaimo.

Bruce Morneault improved to 2-1 with the win for Brewer.

“I was just looking for a good pitch to hit,” Gilley said of his tying single. “I think we had people on the team that could pick us up (after we fell behind) and we just came back strong.”

In the second game, it was all Comrades, as the Bangor bats warmed up en route to six doubles and 15 hits and a 12-2 win.

Meanwhile, Darren Stover improved to 3-1 by limiting the Falcons to just four hits in the complete game effort. The sneaky Stover kept the Falcons off balance with a sharp, biting curve, and walked only four batters.

The Comrades chased starter Mike Kane (0-2) after only 1 1/3 innings. Kane allowed eight runs on six hits, including four doubles, over that span.

Josh Pressley keyed the Bangor attack, slugging a two-run double in the first, doubling in another run in the second, and singling in the sixth.

The Comrades scored eight runs in the first two stanzas to put Brewer away early. Casey Catell added a double, single and two RBIs for the winners, while Alaimo singled and drove in a pair of runs.

Chris Nill scored three runs and notched a pair of hits of his own.

Pressley said a between-game conference sparked Bangor.

“We had a meeting after the (first) game and said we really wanted to jump on them quick and get a couple of runs so we wouldn’t have to come from behind like we did in the first game,” Pressley said.

“I think after we got the first couple runs, we loosened up a little bit.”

Falcons 7, Comrades 6

(Sunday’s First Game)

Bangor Brewer

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

True, cf 3 1 1 1 Smith, lf 2 1 1 0

Waterman, ss 4 0 0 1 Largay, 2b 4 1 0 0

Pressley, 1b 3 0 1 0 Sawyer, ss 4 1 0 0

Catell, 3b 3 0 0 0 Gobel, 1b 2 2 0 0

Estey, lf 3 1 2 3 Kane, rf 3 1 2 1

Alaimo, p 2 1 0 0 Roy, cf 4 1 2 1

Mick, rf 3 1 0 0 Dority, dh 2 0 0 1

Perry, c 1 1 0 0 a-Knckrbckr 0 0 0 0

c-Stover 1 0 0 0 e-Preston 0 0 0 0

Wilcox, 2b 1 0 0 0 Gilley, c 3 0 1 1

d-Patchell 0 1 0 0 b-Pollard 0 0 0 0

Peak, 3b 3 0 0 0

Totals 24 6 4 5 Totals 27 7 6 4

a-ran for Dority in 5th

b-struck out for Gilley in 5th

c-flied out for Perry in 5th

d-walked for Wilcox in 7th

e-ran for Dority in 7th

Bangor 030 001 2 – 6

Brewer 400 010 2 – 7

E – Waterman, Mick, Perry; Sawyer 3 HR – Estey LOB – Bangor 6, Brewer 8 DP – Largay-Sawyer-Gobel SB – True; Smith 2

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

Bangor

Alaimo (1-2) 6 6 7 5 7 6

Brewer

Soper 6 3 6 5 7 4

Morneault (2-1) 1 1 0 0 1 0

Alaimo faced five batters in the seventh WP – Alaimo 2; Soper TIME – 1:57 ATTENDANCE – 70

Comrades 12, Falcons 2

(Sunday’s Second Game)

Bangor (9-3) Brewer (8-4)

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Estey, lf 4 1 1 1 Smith, 2b 4 0 1 0

Mick, lf 1 0 0 0 Roy, cf 3 2 1 0

Waterman, 2b 3 2 1 0 Sawyer, ss 3 0 0 0

Millard, 2b 1 0 1 0 Gobel, 3b-1b 2 0 0 0

Pressley, 1b 4 3 3 3 Kane, p-rf 3 0 1 2

Wilcox, 1b-ss 0 0 0 1 Campbell, rf-p 3 0 0 0

Catell, 3b 4 1 2 2 Pollard, 1b 1 0 0 0

LeBlanc, 3b 1 0 0 0 Peak, 3b 2 0 1 0

Patchell, ss 3 1 1 1 Corey, c 1 0 0 0

Penney, 1b 0 0 0 0 a-Dority 1 0 0 0

Alaimo, rf 4 0 1 2 Gilley, c 1 0 0 0

True, cf 3 0 1 1 Gilbert, lf 0 0 0 0

Stover, p 3 0 0 0 Largay, 2b 1 0 0 0

b-Perry 1 0 1 0

Nill, c 2 3 2 0

c-Soucie 1 1 1 0

Totals 35 12 15 11 Totals 25 2 4 2

a-lined out for Corey in fourth

b-singled for Stover in sixth

c-doubled for Nill in seventh

Bangor 351 011 1 – 12

Brewer 101 000 0 – 2

E – Patchell 2, Catell; Largay, Kane, Pollard, Sawyer, Corey 2B – Pressley 2, Catell, Patchell, Nill, Soucie; Roy, Kane LOB – Bangor 6, Brewer 6 DP – Patchell-Waterman-Pressley, Stover-Pressley; LeBlanc-Millard-Penney; Largay-Sawyer-Gobel SB – Pressley, Patchell SF – Wilcox

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

Bangor

Stover (3-1) 7 4 2 1 4 2

Brewer

Kane (0-2) 1 1/3 6 8 7 3 2

Morneault 1 2/3 2 1 1 1 1

Campbell 4 7 3 3 1 1

WP – Kane 2, Morneault, Campbell TIME – 2:12 ATTENDANCE – 80