OLD TOWN – Tuesday afternoon’s matchup between two of the top Eastern Maine Class A baseball teams had all the makings of a heavyweight title fight.

After the first five innings, it looked like it would go the full 12 rounds, but Bangor managed to come up with a run in the 10th and hold off previously unbeaten Old Town with a 3-2 decision at Old Town High School.

Bangor catcher Shawn Bouchard snapped out of a recent slump in a big way as he lined a first-pitch fastball to left-center for a double that drove in the winning run with two outs in the top of the tenth.

“Yeah, it was a fastball, but I wasn’t really thinking about the pitches,” Bouchard said. “I was just thinking about going up and making connection with the ball.”

It’s the second time this season Bouchard’s delivered a key hit to send the 10-1 Rams on to victory in the midst of a slump.

“I guess I like hitting under the pressure and hitting in key situations,” Bouchard said. “It takes my mind off trying to kill the ball every time.”

The dramatics didn’t end there, however, as Old Town’s Matt Ouellette reached on an error to lead off the bottom of the 10th. After Bangor’s Joe Vanidestine tracked down a liner to right with a running, one-handed stab for the first out, OT’s Jason Thibodeau ripped a double to left to put runners at second and third.

Brooker intentionally walked the next batter to load the bases and tried to get refocused. Whatever he did worked as he struck out No. 6 batter Brian Tewhey and Benn Clark – each on four pitches – to end the game and earn his second win of the season.

“I shouldn’t have thrown back-to-back curveballs [on the double], but it happened and I just had to bear down,” Brooker said.

Brooker’s two-inning effort came on the heels of a superb outing by unbeaten Rams starter Jeremy Karam, who threw 121 pitches and scattered six hits over eight innings despite a sore arm early on. His coaches called it his finest outing of the season.

“He did not have his good fastball today and in the first inning, he tried to beat them with it. Then he realized he didn’t have his good stuff, so he started changing speeds and keeping the ball down,” said Rams coach Bob Kelley. “He pitched very intelligently.”

The 8-1 Indians took a 2-1 lead in the first on a leadoff walk, a single, Jason Sirois’ RBI single to right center, another walk, and a sacrifice fly by Tewhey.

Bangor scored a run in the first on leadoff singles by Josh Johnson and Jim Shea and a two-out single up the middle by Andy Sullivan. The Rams tied the score in the third on Karam’s leadoff home run 300 feet to right.

Old Town junior starter Jason Robbins, who attended Highview Christian Academy last year, was the hard-luck loser despite going the distance with 137 pitches and thwarting several Ram threats.

Rams 3, Indians 2 (10 inn.)

Bangor (10-1) Old Town (8-1)

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Johnson, 1b 5 1 2 0 Powers, 2b 3 1 0 0

Shea, 2b 5 0 2 0 Ouellette, c 3 1 1 0

Karam, p-cf 5 1 2 1 a-Cole 0 0 0 0

Libbey, 3b 5 1 2 0 Sirois, ss 5 0 2 1

Sullivan, dh 5 0 2 1 Thibodeau, 1b 4 0 2 0

Baird, cf 0 0 0 0 Brissette, lf 4 0 1 0

Bouchard, c 4 0 1 1 Tewhey, 3b 4 0 0 1

b-Worcester 0 0 0 0 Graves, dh 3 0 0 0

Anderson, lf 3 0 0 0 Clark, dh 2 0 0 0

c-Ferguson 1 0 0 0 Carey, rf 4 0 2 0

Vanidestine, rf 3 0 0 0 McAuley, cf 3 0 0 0

d-Curran 1 0 0 0

Bombardier, ss 4 0 1 0

Totals 41 3 12 3 Totals 35 2 8 2

a-ran for Ouellette in tenth

b-ran for Bouchard in eighth

c-struck out for Anderson in sixth

d-flied out for Vanidestine in sixth

Bangor 101 000 000 1 – 3

Old Town 200 000 000 0 – 2

E – Libbey 2B – Shea, Bouchard; Thibodeau HR – Karam (2) LOB – Bangor 10; Old Town 11 DP – Shea-Bombardier-Johnson SB – Sullivan, Libbey 2; Thibodeau, Sirois SF – Tewhey

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

Bangor

Karam 8 6 2 2 5 8

Brooker (W,2-0) 2 2 0 0 1 3

Old Town

Robbins (L,1-1) 10 12 3 3 2 5

WP – Karam 2 TIME – 2:17 ATTENDANCE – 238