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BANGOR – After watching his Nokomis team build a 6-1 lead over the defending Eastern Maine Class A champs … then slowly unravel in what would end up a 10-8 loss, Gene Crockett noticed a subtle thing that he figures made a huge difference.
“It’s a winning attitude that we don’t really have yet, overall,” said Crockett, the coach of the Newport-based Warriors.
“Bangor, [even] those guys on the bench know they’re gonna win. We’re just praying for rain when we got the lead, knowing something bad’s gonna happen.”
Eventually, it did, and the Rams took full advantage of its opportunities in the come-from-behind win. And those ominous thunderclouds? They passed overhead without opening up and helping the Warriors.
Bangor committed four errors, the Rams’ pitchers hit five Nokomis batters, and both teams played the kind of baseball you’d expect of squads whose preseason schedules were largely scrapped due to icy or muddy fields: Only seven of the game’s 18 runs were earned.
But after spotting the Warriors a 6-1 lead after 31/2 innings, Bangor responded: The Rams scored four in the fourth, two in the fifth, and won it in the sixth when Justin Libbey lashed a bases-loaded single to left and Shawn Bouchard followed with an RBI single.
The Rams also got two unearned runs in the fifth when pinch hitter Joe Campbell’s towering two-out infield popup was muffed. Kevin Proctor and Libbey scored from first and second on the play.
In the sixth, Libbey’s single made it 9-8 and gave Bangor its first lead of the game. Bouchard’s single provided the final margin. And sophomore lefty Steve Fergerson closed the door in the seventh to earn a win in his varsity debut.
Fergerson pitched two scoreless innings of relief, striking out one and allowing two hits.
“I knew that some kids were hitting pitches right down the middle so I was trying to spot it,” Fergerson said. [Catcher] Shawn [Bouchard] did a good job with cornering his pitchers and telling me where to throw it. I just followed his lead.”
Nokomis dropped its opener while Bangor improved to 1-1 and gave first-year coach Jeff Fahey his first victory.
The Rams’ captains awarded Fahey one of the game balls after the win … even after their new coach delivered a scathing message to the team during the third inning.
Fahey, a 1983 Bangor grad, sheepishly admitted that he thought his yelling and screaming days were behind him.
“Everyone knows we have seven returners from the state game from last year, and they pretty much knew that they had those positions sewed up. I thought they had to know that those positions aren’t so solid,” he said.
“I don’t know if it did much, but I felt better afterward,” he added with a chuckle.
Leadoff hitter Brian Hawthorne led the Nokomis attack with a double and two singles, while James Lister rapped two singles.
Bangor got two hits apiece from their Nos. 5-6-7 hitters, Proctor, Libbey and Bouchard. Josh Johnson and Libbey drove in two runs each.
Bouchard said the Rams remained confident despite their early troubles.
“We’ve got a great bunch of kids on this team, a lot of kids who can hit,” he said. “In clutch situations they don’t get down on themselves.”
Rams 10, Warriors 8
Nokomis (0-1) Bangor (1-1)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
Hawthorne, cf 5 2 3 1 Bombardier, ss 2 1
S. Henderson, ss 3 0 0 0 Johnson, 1b 4 2
Veazie, p-1b 4 1 1 0 Vanidestine, rf 3 0 1
Blair, c 2 1 1 1 Shea, 2b 3 1 0
Gee, 1b 2 1 1 2 Proctor, lf 4 2 0
Bradstreet, p 1 0 0 0 Anderson, lf 0 0
Morse, lf 3 0 0 0 Libbey, 3b 2 1 2
D. Henderson, rf 4 1 0 0 Bouchard, c 4 1
Lister, 2b 3 1 2 1 Sullivan, p 2 1 0
Jacques, 3b-p 3 1 1 0 Curran, p 0 0
a-Campbell 1 0
Fergerson, p 1 0
Worcester, cf 2 0
Totals 30 8 9 5 Totals 28 10 10 7
a-reached on an error for Curran in the fifth
Nokomis 121 220 0 ? 8
Bangor 100 423 x ? 10
E?S. Henderson, Lister 2; Bombardier 2, Shea, Libbey; LOB?Nokomis 11, Bangor 7; 2B?Gee, Hawthorne, Jacques; Vanidestine, Johnson; S?S. Henderson; Vanidestine SF?Bombardier; SB?Libbey
Nokomis IP H R ER BB SO
Veazie 3? 4 5 4 3 2
Jacques (L, 0-1) 2 6 5 0 4 1
Bangor IP H R ER BB SO
Sullivan 3? 5 6 3 2 1
Curran 1 2 2 0 1 1
Fergerson (W, 1-0) 2 2 0 0 0 1
HBP?Lister, Jacques, Morse by Sullivan, Veazie, Blair by Curran; WP?Veazie 3; PB?Bouchard; T?2:01; ATT?125 (est.)
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