Wheaton’s effort a relief for Orono> Pitcher leads Twins to title round matchup against undefeated Brewer team

BANGOR – Crunch time came without any warning for Brad Wheaton Sunday afternoon.

One minute, Orono’s relief pitcher was sitting on the bench, watching his Twins take a 3-0 lead early in Sunday’s American Legion Zone 1 baseball tournament elimination game at Mansfield Stadium.

The next, he was on the pitcher’s mound, warming up to take over for ejected starter Darrin Daniels.

His pre-relief preparation regimen? Five or six hurried warmup pitches after head coach Dave Paul yelled “Wheaton, go down and warm up” with two outs in the bottom of the third.

“I didn’t have very much time to stretch out or anything, but it worked out,” Wheaton said. “Normally when I come in we’re losing, or we’re up by a lot. That was definitely the most pressure I’ve had coming in.”

Then judging from the six-inning, two-hit effort he turned in to key No. 1 Orono’s 9-2 victory over No. 4 Bangor, it was probably the most grace he’s exhibited under it.

Wheaton used an effective mix of slider and curve ball to set up his fastball, which he spotted with pinpoint accuracy as he struck out seven batters and walked just one.

“He threw very good,” said Comrades coach Joe Nelson. “They got a lead and he came right at us and made us swing the bats, and they made the plays defensively.”

Orono, which clinched the second and final Zone 1 berth in next weekend’s state tournament with the win, took on Brewer for the Zone 1 title Sunday night. Bangor winds up 12-9.

Daniels was ejected after singling two runners home with one out in the third. He tried to advance to second on the relay throw from the outfield, but Bangor’s Dave Utterback caught the throw between the mound and second base and threw to second, where John Johnson had Daniels dead to rights.

Daniels went into second with a hard slide, was tagged out by Johnson, and then ejected by base umpire Mike Bordick Sr. for an unsafe play. By Legion rules, Daniels had to sit out Sunday night’s game.

Given the emotion of the play and the sudden turn of events, Paul was impressed with Wheaton’s composure.

“For him, as a sophomore in high school, to come in in that situation and do the job he did was fantastic,” said Paul. “He threw hard, he threw strikes, and the big thing was, he had confidence.”

Bangor’s Matt Soucie greeted Wheaton with a single to right, but Wheaton retired his second hitter on a fly out. A run-scoring fielding error later, Wheaton notched the second out with a strikeout. Catcher Jason Folsom picked a runner off first to end the inning.

Orono struck for two more runs in the fourth on Josh Emerson’s two-out, two-run double to right center field.

The big blow came in the fifth as Zach Gasaway crushed a first-pitch fastball from Comrades’ reliever Travis Brooker over the right field fence some 345 feet out for a three-run homer.

Emerson, Jason Sirois, Jamie Kennedy, and Gasaway each had two hits.

Bangor’s only repeat hitter, catcher Shawn Bouchard, went 2-for-3.