Waterman homer lifts Rams in 7th

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BREWER – The last time the Bangor Rams and the Brewer Witches hooked up, the Rams won on the strength of Darren Stover’s arm.

There would be no repeat no-hitter for Stover this time around, so the Rams won a thriller on the strong arms of shortstop Tommy Waterman instead.

Down 5-4 to Brewer with a runner on first, two outs, and a 1-1 count, Waterman pounced on a fastball from Brewer’s Mike Kane and belted a line drive over the center-field fence for a 400-foot, game-winning home run.

Waterman’s first round-tripper of the season ruined the first home night game for Brewer and gave the Rams a 7-5 comeback baseball victory at Heddericg Field Tuesday night.

“Right when I hit it, I knew it was gone. It was a belt-high fastball down the middle and I guessed right,” said Waterman. “He threw me a curveball and I was out in front of it and then he came with a fastball, which surprised me, but I was all over it. I got it all.”

The 8-1 Rams notched their sixth straight win. Brewer fell to 3-4.

“Geez, that’s a lot of power for a kid his size. I honestly thought it was gone when he hit it,” said Bangor coach Bob Kelley. “If you could pick a kid to have up in the clutch, that’s who you’d want.”

Waterman did it with his glove and throwing arm as well, putting a stop to Brewer’s three-run rally in the third by scooping a grounder deep in the hole at shortstop and throwing out Brewer’s Ben Deane at first by a half-step with the bases-loaded and two out.

“We were one pitch away… You’ve got to give Tommy credit, but I think the biggest play was the play he made in the hole when he went deep for it and [Mike] Arsenault made that pick. That would have given us two runs,” said Brewer coach Tim Scott.

Bangor took a 3-0 lead in the third. Jake Civiello opened things up with an infield hit and went to third on a throwing error. An RBI groundout and strikeout later, Waterman singled to center, went to second on a fielding error, and scored on Keith Dorr’s double to dead center. Dorr later scored on a passed ball and wild pitch.

The Witches tied it up in the third, thanks to three hits, two Ram errors, and a wild pitch. Kane struck the big blow with a two-run triple to dead center.

The Rams made it 4-3 on Dorr’s fielder’s choice, RBI grounder with one out in the fifth, but the Witches came back again.

Deane led off the bottom of the sixth with a double down the left-field line. After Stover hit Andy Thomas with a pitch, he fielded J.R. Thompson’s bunt and threw wildly to first, allowing Deane to score.

Ryan Snell followed with an RBI single down the left-field line. Brewer then loaded the bases with one out, but Stover regained his concentration and struck out the No. 4 and 5 batters on eight pitches to escape further trouble.

“The thing I’m most proud of is the kids showed some character,” said Kelley.

If not for Mike Wilcox drawing a two-out walk in the seventh, the Rams might have fallen short.

“That was a nice at-bat by Mike Wilcox last time up. He was down 1-2 and got on base. If he doesn’t get on base, Tommy doesn’t come up,” said Kelley.

Dorr capped the scoring by reaching on a single, stealing second and advancing to third on the catcher’s throwing error, and scoring on a passed ball.

Rams 7, Witches 5

Bangor boys (8-1) Brewer (3-4)

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

True, cf 4 1 1 1 Snell, 2b 3 1 1 1

Wilcox, 2b 2 1 0 0 Pinkham, cf 3 0 0 0

Waterman, ss 2 2 2 2 Kane, p-1b 3 1 2 2

Dorr, c 4 2 2 2 Blaine, rf 3 0 1 1

Stover, p 3 0 0 0 Gonzales, 1b 4 0 0 0

a-LeBlanc 0 0 0 0 Burnes, ss 4 0 0 0

Philbrick, rf 3 0 1 0 Deane, 3b 4 0 1 0

Soucie, lf 3 0 0 0 b-Griffin 0 1 0 0

Chdbourne,dh 2 0 0 0 Thomas, dh 4 1 1 0

Arsenault, 3b 1 0 0 0 Morneault, c 0 0 0 0

Civiello, 3b 2 1 1 0 Thompson, lf 3 1 1 0

c-Estey 1 0 0 0

Totals 27 7 7 5 Totals 31 5 7 4

a-ran for Stover in seventh

b-scored for Deane in sixth

c-struck out for Civiello in seventh

Bangor 003 010 3 – 7

Brewer 003 002 0 – 5

E – Waterman, Civiello 2, Stover, Arsenault; Gonzales, Burnes, T. Morneault 2B – Dorr, Philbrick; Deane 3B – Kane HR – Waterman (1) LOB – Bangor 5; Brewer 9 DP – Snell to Burnes SB – Philbrick, True, Dorr 2; Kane S – Pinkham

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

Bangor

Stover (W,5-0) 7 7 5 3 3 6

Brewer

Kane (L,1-2) 6 2/3 7 7 4 5 12

Morneault 1/3 0 0 0 1 1

HBP – Thomas by Stover WP – Stover; Kane 2 PB – T. Morneault 2 TIME – 2:12 ATTENDANCE – 163