BREWER – While many teams have yet to pick up their second or third wins of the season, John Bapst starting pitcher Billy Chapman notched his third Saturday afternoon with a complete-game effort against Brewer.

The junior righthander pitched a six-hitter to lead the Crusaders of Bangor’s Broadway to a 9-3 victory over the struggling Witches on a bright, but blustery day at Heddericg Field.

“Before the game, I was working on my curveball because it wasn’t as good as it could have been in past games, but it worked really well today,” Chapman said. “I mix my curve in quite a bit with fastball, changeup and a little slider.”

Chapman was keeping the 1-3 Witches more than a little off-balance as he threw 106 pitches (61 strikes) while walking two batters and striking out four.

“They were being aggressive, but the umpire was giving me the outside corner so I kept it out there,” he said.

Although John Bapst’s defense committed four errors, only one of Brewer’s three runs was unearned.

“Billy didn’t get down when some close plays or calls didn’t go his way where he could’ve maybe folded the tent a little,” said coach Mike Miragliuolo, whose Crusaders improve to 4-1. “In fact, I think he got better. I’ve thrown a lot of pitchers out and not let them go a lot of innings, but today I let him try and get out of situations and he did it. He pitched a smart game.”

Saturday’s effort was the first this season in which Chapman was allowed to pitch beyond the fourth inning. Course, when your offense comes up with six runs in the first four innings and is only shut out in one inning all game, it’s easy for a coach to stick with his starter.

Bapst jumped on Brewer sophomore and first-time starter Josh Caldwell for an unearned run in the first on a fielding error in right, but missed a chance for a big inning as Caldwell ended the inning with a bases-loaded strikeout.

The Crusaders tacked on two more with Brandon Gray’s RBI single in the second and Bryan Snyder’s one-out single in the third after Andy Tremble tripled to left center. They broke it open in the fourth with two hits – James Strout’s leadoff single and Tremble’s RBI double down the left field line – an error, and two stolen bases, one of which was Tremble stealing home with one out.

Defensive miscues (four in all) continued to plague the Witches as Bapst scored its third unearned run of the day in the fifth.

“When you have young pitching, you’re gonna walk some batters and that makes it important for your defense to make the tough plays. If you don’t, those walks and errors are more magnified,” said Brewer coach David Morris.

Brewer cut its deficit to 3-1 in the third on a Jason Work single, a stolen base, and an RBI single by Zach Bouzan-Kaloustian. The Witches scored twice in the fifth on three straight singles by Work, Bouzan-Kaloustian and Adam Freeman – who went a combined 6-for-10 at the plate – two errors, and a walk.

“They had not just the hits, but timely hits in crucial situations,” said Morris. “With us, it seemed we hit the ball right at them too much and they made the plays.”

Zach Means (2-for-4, three RBIs) capped the scoring with a two-out, two-run single down the left-field line in the seventh.

“He’s one of our hottest hitters,” Miragliuolo said. “He was hitting around .500 coming in so he’s probably up around .600 now.”

Crusaders 9, Witches 3

John Bapst (4-1) Brewer (1-3)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Jellison, lf 2 1 0 0 Bouzan-Kaloustian,ss 3 2

Strout, ss 3 3 1 0 Freeman, cf 4 0 0

Means, 3b 4 1 2 3 Barrett, 1b-p 4 0 0

Tremble, rf 3 2 2 1 Spencer, rf 4 0 0

Chapman, p 5 0 0 0 Cote, 3b 3 0 1

a-B.Myerowitz 0 0 0 0 Doucette, 2b 3 0

Snyder, cf 4 0 2 1 Bernier, dh 2 0 0

Z.Myerowitz, 1b 3 0 0 0 King, 1b 0 0

McCree, 2b 3 1 0 0 b-Collins 1 0 0

Gray, c 3 1 1 1 Griffin, c 2 0 0

c-Carey 1 0 0 0

Work, lf 3 2 2 0

Totals 30 9 8 7 Totals 30 3 6 3

a ? ran for Chapman in seventh

b ? struck out for King in seventh

c ? grounded out for Griffin in sixth

John Bapst 111 310 2 ? 9

Brewer 001 020 0 ? 3

E? Strout 2, Means 2; Spencer, Cote, Doucette 2; LOB? John Bapst 11; Brewer 10; 2B? Tremble; Freeman; 3B? Tremble; S? Jellison; SB? Tremble, Strout 3, Jellison, McCree, Snyder 2; Work, Spencer

John Bapst IP H R ER BB SO

Chapman (W,3-0) 7 6 3 2 2 4

Brewer IP H R ER BB SO

Caldwell (L,0-1) 4 5 6 4 4 3

Knight 2? 3 3 2 4 3

Barrett ? 0 0 0 0 0

HBP? Jellison and Z. Myerowitz (Caldwell); Doucette and Bouzan-Kaloustian (Chapman); WP? Knight, Chapman; T?2:33; ATT? 107