ORONO – The most underrated position in baseball arguably isn’t on the field, it’s the number nine hitter in the batting order.

They hear it all the time: Fielders yelling “Bottom of the order!” as they come up to bat or coaches saying “Come on (fill in name here), it’s the No. 9 guy, we can’t put him on.”

George Stevens Academy second baseman Troy Bannister has heard all that stuff, but he just smiles to himself.

Monday afternoon at Orono High School, the diminutive Bannister smiled his way to a 2-for-3 day while leading his Eagles from Blue Hill to a crucial, pointworthy victory over the Red Riots.

“I think most people feel like No. 9 hitters are the weakest in the lineup, but I don’t think our fans think that way,” Bannister said. “We always call it the second leadoff so it’s not like it’s anything bad to be hitting there. I like hitting there.”

And it shows. Bannister also stole three bases and scored two runs to spark the 3-2 win and help his Eagles even their record to 7-7 with two games left. Orono, ranked sixth last week, slipped to 6-8.

“If we want to get in the playoffs, we need to win now,” said Bannister. “We started off slow, but we’re making our move now.”

It didn’t look that way early on as the Eagles committed three errors in the first inning. Orono took advantage of GSA’s first miscue – a one-out throwing error – as back-to-back singles by Stuart Cady and Chris Crockett, and a sacrifice fly by Tom Perry plated two runs.

Orono put two more runners on, thanks to two straight errors, but failed to capitalize as starter Toby Cole escaped with a strikeout.

Cole quickly shook off the rough start and seemed to get stronger as the game wore on and the defense improved. Orono put runners on in every inning but the sixth, but failed to score again.

“We stranded 11 baserunners and I think eight of them were in scoring position,” lamented Riots coach Jay Kemble after the game.

The Riots’ biggest threat came in the fifth, when Perry led off with a single, Brad Nadeau doubled, and Morgan Stinson walked to load the bases. Jamie Brooker followed with a stinging liner down the third base line, but Ty Balombini-Goddard made a diving stab to catch the ball and rob him of a hit. Then Cole got into the act, inducing Ben Berry to ground up the middle. Cole grabbed the slow grounder and threw home for one out, and catcher Mac Jackson threw to first for the double play.

“That pumped us up. Everybody on the bench was up and yelling and it got us going,” said Cole.

With its newfound momentum, GSA scored the winning run in the sixth on Cole’s RBI double down the left field line after Bannister hit a one-out single and stole second.

The Eagles cut Orono’s lead in half with a delayed double steal in the third. With runners at the corners, Chaz Mattson broke for second, drew a throw and began backpedaling. Meanwhile, Bannister (who else?) sprinted home. The throw was late and Mattson went to second. GSA later tied it with Jackson’s two-out, bases-loaded single in the fifth.

Eagles 3, Red Riots 2

George Stevens (7-7) Orono (6-8)

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Cole, p 4 0 1 1 Hite, cf 3 0 0 0

Mattson, lf 3 0 0 0 Means, ss 3 1 0 0

Lewndwski,cf 3 0 0 0 Cady, p 3 1 2 0

Ryan, dh 3 1 0 0 Crockett, 3b 4 0 2 1

Wessel, 1b 0 0 0 0 Perry, 1b 2 0 1 1

Bl’bni-Gdrd,3b 1 0 1 0 Nadeau, c 4 0 2 0

Collier, rf 3 0 0 0 Stinson, lf 3 0 0 0

Jackson, c 4 0 1 1 Brooker, rf 3 0 0 0

Davies, ss 3 0 0 0 Berry, 2b 3 0 0 0

a-Shook 1 0 0 0

Bannister, 2b 3 2 2 0

Totals 28 3 5 2 Totals 28 2 7 2

a-grounded out for Davies in sixth

George Stevens Academy 001 011 0 – 3

Orono 200 000 0 – 2

E – Balombini-Goddard, Davies, Bannister 2; Means, Crockett, Perry 2B – Cole; Nadeau LOB – George Stevens 11; Orono 11 DP – Cole-Jackson-Wessel SB – Mattson, Bannister 3; Hite S – Perry SF – Perry

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

George Stevens

Cole (W,4-0) 7 7 2 0 4 4

Orono

Cady (L,4-3) 7 5 3 1 6 4

HBP – Mattson by Cady WP – Cady PB – Nadeau 2 TIME – 1:53 ATTENDANCE – 121