BANGOR – It won’t be the prettiest victory of the season for the Dexter Tigers, and it may go down as the ugliest, but it certainly offered its share of excitement.

The Tigers were reeling after Bangor Christian’s Patriots pounced on them for six runs on five hits in the first inning, but thanks to a gutsy effort from sophomore pitcher Travis Patterson and two big offensive innings fueled by Patriot mistakes, Dexter came all the way back for a 10-9 victory Friday afternoon.

Patterson threw 129 pitches – 61 for strikes – to notch the first win of his high school career and Dexter’s first of the season.

“He was teetering a bit through the first four innings, so we told him he had to buckle down or we’ll make a move and he settled in after that,” said Dexter coach Vince Sawyer. “You don’t want to get that high in your pitch count, but we’ve got a game [Saturday] and every day next week, so we told him to go all the way if he could.”

Patterson did, allowing 11 hits – seven of which came in the first two innings – and six walks while striking out six batters.

“I usually get stronger as the game goes along and I did today, so I just kept trying to throw harder,” said Patterson. “My curve was working pretty good so I went to that more than usual. I just threw that and my fastball.”

Not bad for a guy whose previous high school pitching experience amounted to about eight total innings last season.

As high as Patterson’ pitch count was, it wasn’t the game’s highest. Patriots starter Al Easley threw 156, but allowed just seven hits and four earned runs.

“He had a pretty tricky curveball,” Dexter shortstop Adam Russell said. “You could tell it was coming, but it was just so slow that we just couldn’t handle it.”

Ten walks and five B.C. errors proved to be Easley’s undoing.

The Tigers struck for four runs in the second with just two hits, the biggest of which was a two-run triple with two outs by Adam Russell, who was called for the final out of the inning for failing to touch first base. Of the three Dexter batters who drew walks in the inning, all scored.

Dexter erased a 9-4 deficit and made it a tie game in the fifth as it again enjoyed a big inning with just two hits. Matt Foster and Russell reached on walks while Ryan Robinson was hit by a pitch. All three scored, thanks to an RBI single by Matt Mountain, a wild pitch, and a back-breaking fielding error in left field which allowed three runs to score.

Russell, who moved to Maine from Connecticut last fall, had his first two hits of the season along with two stolen bases.

“Right before that inning, coach came in and … yelled at us, but it was a good yell. It calmed us down,” Russell said.

“I told the guys ‘You got yourselves in a hole. Now you’ve got to see what you’re made of.’ We’ve got a good team, but we need to battle,” Sawyer explained.

And they did. Russell hit a one-out infield single that careened off Easley in the seventh, stole second and third, and scored off an errant throw to third during his steal.

“It’s tough, but we’re young and we’re going to take our lumps early,” said coach Don Chrisos, whose Pats drop to 0-3. “If we make the outfield catch, we win. Those runs [via Russell’s triple] shouldn’t have counted, but the big thing is we made too many mistakes.”

Matt Conley led the Pats with a double, single, and two RBIs. Anthony Cole belted a three-run double in the first.

Tigers 10, Patriots 9

Dexter (1-1) Bangor Christian (0-3)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Russell, ss 3 2 2 2 Jeskey, cf 5 1 0

Fields, cf 5 0 1 0 Chrisos, ss 5 1 0

Sawyer, c 4 0 0 0 Harriman, 3b 3 2 1

Foster, 1b 1 2 0 0 Conley, c 4 1 3

Robinson, lf 2 2 1 1 Easley, p 3 1 0

Morrison, 3b 4 1 1 0 Wilson, 1b 3 0 0

a-Hersey 0 0 0 0 Sobey, lf 2 1 0

Bishop, dh 3 1 1 0 b-Wagner 1 0 0

Mountain, rf 2 2 1 1 Cole, 2b 2 1 3

Couley, 2b 3 0 0 0 c-Putnam 0 0 0

McCleary, rf 4 1 2 1

Totals 27 10 7 4 Totals 32 9 11 8

a?ran for Morrison in the sixth, b?struck out for Sobey in the seventh, c?ran for Cole in the seventh

Dexter 040 050 1 ? 10

Bangor Christian 612 000 0 ? 9

E?Morrison, Patterson; Conley 2, Easley, Sobey; LOB? Dexter 8; Bangor Christian 8; 2B? Robinson; Conley, Cole; 3B? Russell; McCleary; DP? Russell-Couley-Foster; SB? Sawyer 2; Conley

Dexter IP H R ER BB SO

Patterson (W,1-0) 7 11 9 8 6 6

Bangor Christian IP H R ER BB SO

Easley (L,0-2) 7 7 10 4 10 8

HBP? Robinson by Easley; WP? Patterson, Easley; PB? Sawyer 3, Conley; T? 2:24; ATT? 100 (est.)