OLD TOWN – The Old Town High School Indians played their first home game since 1995 on their upgraded field, complete with new dugouts, Thursday afternoon.
But the Hampden Academy Broncos spoiled the debut by parlaying aggressive baserunning, five Indian errors, and timely hitting into a 10-6, come-from-behind triumph.
Sophomore righthander Adam Waite, making his first varsity start, overcame nine hits and eight walks to notch the complete-game win.
Five of his walks came in the first two innings as Old Town jumped out to a 5-1 lead.
Waite struck out three and 61 of his 124 pitches were strikes.
Waite’s teammates played errorless defense behind him while turning two double plays, including an important one in the sixth inning as first baseman Matt Gilbert dove to his right to snare a liner and turn it into a 3-6 double play.
“I bore down and concentrated more on each hitter after the first two innings,” said Waite, who also began using his curve more.
“His curve got better as the game went along,” said Old Town catcher Jon Thomas.
“He threw strikes and threw harder after they gave him the lead,” said Old Town coach Dave Paul. “We hit some balls hard, but they made the plays on them.”
Hampden erased a 6-5 deficit to take the lead for good with two runs in the sixth inning.
Mike McInnis beat out a slow roller to third for his third hit of the game, then stole second. He went to third on a wild pitch, and Ben Preston walked.
McInnis scored on a wild pitch as Thomas’ throw to reliever Jared Foster at the plate got past him. The hustling Preston raced all the way to third and third baseman Mark Ellis misplayed Foster’s throw, allowing Preston to score.
Hampden added three insurance runs in the seventh as Justin Groshon reached on shortstop Paul Dumont’s fielding error, Matt Economy walked, and Rob King sacrificed them along. Gilbert was walked intentionally to load the bases and McInnis walked to force in a run.
Preston hit a sacrifice fly, and on an ensuing rundown between first and second, Gilbert broke for the plate from third. Second baseman Sean Dickey overthrew Thomas at the plate.
Hampden, now 1-1, trailed 5-1 after two innings, but began its comeback with a third-inning run on Preston’s base hit and stolen base and Trevor Bristol’s RBI double.
The Broncos tied it in the fifth with McInnis again triggering the rally with a leadoff single.
He stole second and went to third on a wild pitch before Derek Dubois drew a one-out walk. Bristol delivered McInnis with a safety squeeze, and third baseman Ellis’ low throw to first allowed Dubois to go to third.
Bristol stole second and both runners scored on Jason Littlefield’s opposite-field double to left-center.
“He [starter Jamie Kennedy] threw me a fastball outside and I took it to left field,” said Littlefield.
Old Town regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth on Nick Sucy’s double and a run-producing passed ball.
“We’ve been running the bases real aggressively and that can make the difference in a lot of ballgames,” said McInnis, who had two of Hampden’s five stolen bases to go with his three hits. Bristol drove in two runs.
Josh Lizzotte went 3-for-3 and had an RBI for 0-2 Old Town.
Broncos 10, Indians 6
Hampden (1-1) Old Town (0-2)
Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi
King, lf 2 0 0 0 Foster, 1b-p 1 1 1 0
Gilbert, 1b 4 1 0 0 Rand, cf 4 1 1 1
McInnis, ss 4 2 3 1 Lizzotte, rf 3 1 3 1
Preston, c 3 2 1 1 Thomas, c 4 0 1 1
Dubois, rf 2 1 0 0 Kennedy, p 2 0 0 0
Bristol, cf 2 2 1 2 Theriault, p-1b 1 0 0 0
Littlefield, 3b 4 0 1 2 Young, dh 2 0 1 1
Groshon, 2b 3 1 0 0 Emery, dh 2 0 0 0
Economy, dh 1 1 0 0 Ellis, 3b 0 0 0 0
Waite, p 0 0 0 0 Goslin, lf 2 0 0 0
Sucy, lf 1 1 1 0
Dumont, ss 3 1 1 0
Dickey, 2b 1 1 0 0
Totals 25 10 6 6 Totals 26 6 9 4
Hampden 011 032 3 – 10
Old Town 230 010 0 – 6
E – Dumont 2, Ellis 2, Dickey 2B – Bristol; Thomas, Dumont LOB – Hampden 10, Old Town 9 DP – Groshon unassisted, Gilbert to McInnis SB – McInnis 2, Bristol 2, Preston; Rand, Lizzotte S – Bristol, King SF – Preston
PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO
Hampden
Waite (W, 1-0) 7 9 6 6 8 3
Old Town
Kennedy 4 2/3 5 5 3 5 3
Theriault (L, 0-1) 1/3 1 2 1 2 0
Foster 2 0 3 0 3 0
HBP – Economy (by Kennedy) WP – Waite, Theriault 2, Kennedy PB – Preston TIME – 2:40
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