Cony tips Bangor for 2nd title in row> Caggiano’s pitching, Brunelle’s hit are pivotal

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BANGOR – Up until pregame warmups, Mike Caggiano didn’t even know he’d be taking the mound to start Wednesday’s Eastern Maine Class A title game.

“I was surprised. He threw me the game ball during pregame,” Caggiano said. “I was expecting to pitch, but I wasn’t sure.”

After giving up five hits and three runs before leaving in the second inning of Cony’s quarterfinal win last week, his uncertainty was understandable.

But Cony coach Al Cloutier may have made the managerial move of the game before it even started by going with a gut feeling.

His gut feeling payed off handsomely as Caggiano pitched 6 1/3 strong innings in No. 3 Cony’s 3-2 victory over No. 1 Bangor at Mansfield Stadium.

Cony’s second straight Eastern championship win over Bangor sends the 16-3 Rams of Augusta on to Saturday’s 3:45 p.m. state championship game at Mansfield against Western Maine champ Deering of Portland.

“He didn’t know he was pitching ’til he got off the bus. I kind of kept him in suspense,” said Cloutier, whose Rams are 4-2 against Bangor in the playoffs with Cloutier as head coach. “He struggled a bit in the second half, but he had a gutsy performance today.”

Cony’s junior righthander credited the rediscovery of his curveball, which he used almost exclusively to set up a cut fastball and knuckleball with great effect.

Caggiano scattered six hits, walked four, and struck out three while allowing one earned run.

“I was upset with my performance last game. I knew I could have done better,” Caggiano said. “So I was trying to prove to everyone I could still get the job done.”

That he did, before grudgingly giving way to Jake Castonguay after throwing three straight balls to Bangor’s Willie Baird with one out in the seventh.

“It might have looked like I was mad at the coach, but I was mad at myself because I knew I just needed to throw strikes,” said Caggiano, who threw 50 of his 87 pitches for strikes.

Cloutier actually liked Caggiano’s attitude.

“He’s got big-game experience and he wants the ball. Pressure doesn’t usually faze him,” he said. “I was glad he got the opportunity to come back strong.”

Baird walked on Castonguay’s second pitch, but the burly reliever came back to strike out Matt Soucie on a 2-2 fastball as Baird stole second. Castonguay then retired Justin Libbey on a groundout for his second save of the season.

Bangor got on the board first as Josh Johnson singled home David Lisnik from second with one out in the second inning.

Cony came back with two runs in the top of the third. Jared Cushman led off with a single, was sacrificed to second, and scored on B.L. Lippert’s bad-hop single through first base. A dropped fly ball to shallow right moved Lippert to third before he scored on a groundout.

Bangor tied it in the fifth as Baird reached on an error, was sacrificed to second, and scored on Chris Shea’s two-out single through the left side of the infield.

The game-winning run came courtesy of Bangor’s third error of the game. Ryan Moore reached on a fielding error with one out and went to second on a wild pitch. One out later, Kevin Brunelle, who was 0-for-3, laced a 2-2 pitch down the right field line for an RBI double.

“I was just trying to make contact and hoping it would go somewhere,” Brunelle said. “I wasn’t trying to do anything with it. I was just hacking.”

Chris Shea was the tough-luck loser despite pitching a five-hitter with five strikeouts and one walk.

“It’s tough. I felt Chris could have shut them out,” said Bangor coach Bob Kelley. “We just feel, honestly, that anything short of a state championship is a bit disappointing. We set our goals high.”

Kelley, whose Rams wind up 16-3 after a sixth straight trip to the East finals, said his team beat itself with mistakes and “couldn’t get that one big hit.”

Cony Rams 3, Bangor Rams 2

Cony (16-3) Bangor boys (16-3)

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Brunelle, ss 4 0 1 1 Soucie, rf 3 0 1 0

Young, cf 4 0 0 1 Libbey, ss 4 0 1 0

Jo.Cushman, lf 3 0 2 0 C.Shea, p 3 0 1 1

Castnguay,1b-p 2 0 0 0 Karam, lf 1 0 1 0

a-Boulange 0 0 0 0 Bouchard, c 3 0 1 0

Brawn, c 3 0 0 0 b-Vanidestine 0 0 0 0

Royce, rf 3 0 0 0 Lisnik, dh 2 1 0 0

Ja.Cushman,2b 3 1 1 0 Civiello, 1b 0 0 0 0

Moore, dh-1b 2 1 0 0 McAuliffe, 3b 2 0 0 0

Lippert, 3b 3 0 1 1 Johnson, 2b 0 0 0 0

c-Miller 0 1 0 0 J.Shea, 2b 3 0 1 1

Baird, cf 2 1 0 0

Totals 27 3 5 3 Totals 23 2 6 2

a-ran for Castonguay in sixth

b-ran for Bouchard in sixth

c-ran for Lippert in third

Cony 002 000 1 – 3

Bangor 010 010 0 – 2

E – Jo.Cushman, Caggiano; McAuliffe 2, J. Shea 2B – Brunelle; Karam LOB – Cony 5; Bangor 7 DP – Ja.Cushman-Brunelle-Castonguay, Brunelle-Ja.Cushman-Castonguay SB – Jo. Cushman; Baird S – Moore; Soucie, McAuliffe

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

Cony

Caggiano (W,7-1) 6 1/3 6 2 1 4 3

Castonguay (S,2) 2/3 0 0 0 0 1

Bangor

C.Shea (L,5-2) 7 5 3 1 1 5

WP – Caggiano; C. Shea BK – C.Shea TIME – 1:48 ATTENDANCE – 700 (est.)