Bangor’s Shea overpowers Hermon

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HERMON – His fastball was sizzling and his bat was booming. Life on the diamond couldn’t have been much better for Chris Shea Thursday evening.

Bangor’s starting pitcher struck out 11 and walked three on the way to a two-hit shutout and led the Bangor Comrades to a 4-0 American Legion baseball victory over Hermon at Hermon High School.

“I haven’t thrown in awhile, but I stayed loose all night and got more pop on my fastball,” Shea said. “I was snapping it off and going inside-outside. And the wind helped me get a little more movement on it too.”

Shea, who missed a Saturday doubleheader while attending freshman orientation at Bryant College in Rhode Island, didn’t show much rustiness as he threw 65 of his 103 pitches for strikes, struck out the side in the fourth and set down the side in order four times.

“It’s very key to get him going on the mound because we lost our first three games,” said coach Joe Nelson, whose Comrades evened their record with their third straight win. “This is a game we really needed because they already beat us once.”

Nelson said Shea was effective because he continuously stayed ahead of batters, kept the ball down, and moved it around.

When Shea wasn’t baffling batters from the mound, he was punishing pitches at the plate with two doubles in his first two at-bats.

Bangor gave Shea all the runs he’d need in the fourth as David Utterback hit a one-out single and went to third on Shea’s double to left center. Jeremy Karam then laced a first-pitch fastball to right for a single to score both runners.

The Comrades would get two more in the fifth with a two-out rally. Josh Johnson hit a one-out double to right before David Lisnik reached on a dropped third strike. After Nokomis sophomore and Hermon starter Justin Veazie struck out Utterback, Shea ripped a hard grounder to second which skipped out of Calvin Teixeira’s glove for a two-run error.

Hermon coach Brent Brown, who was without two infield starters to Boys’ State activities, said his young lineup was simply overpowered by Shea’s fastball.

“We have a lot of [Class] C and D players and most of them haven’t seen fastballs like that all season,” Brown said. “But it’s good for them to see that because it’s the only way they’ll get used to it.”

Brown has been happy with the way his 3-2 Navigators have acquitted themselves so far.

“At the start of the year, it was like `Hermon? They should be an easy game,’ but they’re earning respect,” Brown said.

Bangor center fielder Matt Soucie left the game in the bottom of the second after being involved in an outfield collision and suffering a gash just below his left knee.

Billy Kane, whose hit to shallow right center preceded the c Billy Kane, whose hit to shallow right center preceded the collision, had both of Hermon’s hits.

Johnson also doubled twice for Bangor.

Comrades 4, Navigators 0

Bangor (3-3) Hermon (3-2)

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Soucie, cf 1 0 0 0 Teixeira, 2b 2 0 0 0

Baird, cf 3 0 1 0 Overlock, cf 3 0 0 0

Johnson, ss 4 1 2 0 Kluj, ss 3 0 0 0

Lisnik, lf 4 1 0 0 Veazie, p 3 0 0 0

Utterback, 1b 4 1 1 0 Kane, 1b 2 0 2 0

C.Shea, p 4 1 2 0 a-Runnells 0 0 0 0

Karam, rf 4 0 2 2 c-B.Smith 0 0 0 0

J.Shea, 2b 3 0 1 0 D.Smith, lf 3 0 0 0

Brooker, 3b 1 0 0 0 Walker, 3b 2 0 0 0

b-Hawes 0 0 0 0 S.Smith, c 1 0 0 0

Bouchard, c 3 0 1 0 Martell, rf 1 0 0 0

Totals 31 4 10 2 Totals 20 0 2 0

a-caught stealing for Kane in fifth

b-ran for Brooker in sixth

c-walked for Kane in seventh

Bangor 000 220 0 – 4

Hermon 000 000 0 – 0

E – Teixeira 2B – Johnson 2, C.Shea 2, Karam LOB – Bangor 8; Hermon 2 SB – J. Shea; Teixeira S – Martell

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

Bangor

C.Shea (W,1-1) 7 2 0 0 3 11

Hermon

Veazie (L,0-1) 7 10 4 2 2 3

WP – Veazie PB – S.Smith TIME – 1:33 ATTENDANCE – 67

Orono 5, Calais 2

At Calais, three Orono pitchers combined on a six-hitter with eight strikeouts as the Orono Twins picked up their sixth win.

Zach Gasaway, Brad Wheaton and Aaron Turcotte pitched the Twins to victory. Darrin Daniels belted a solo homer and single. Aaron Civiello cracked a pair of doubles while Jamie Cote drove in a run with a triple.

Josh Porter singled twice, walked twice and scored two runs for the Suns. Nathan Holst contributed two singles and an RBI.

Orono (6-1) 001 102 1 – 5 8 0 Calais (0-6) 000 101 0 – 2 6 1

Gasaway, Wheaton (5), Turcotte (7) and Turcotte, Folsom (7); MacDonald and Brown, Loughlin (4)

Brewer, Trenton play to draw

At Ellsworth, Brewer and Ellsworth played to a 7-7 tie through six innings Thursday night before the game was called due to darkness. The contest will be replayed on Monday, July 5 at Ellsworth.

Craig Harvey ripped a three-run, inside-the-park home run for the Falcons. Ryan Snell had a double and two singles.

Toby Cole hit a bases-loaded triple and a single for the Acadians. John Reed contributed two singles.

Brewer 150 100 – 7 11 3 Trenton 102 004 – 7 8 4

Waite, Hatch (6), Jansen (6) and McHale; Cowperthwaite and Cunningham