BANGOR – A single, a stolen base, a wild pitch, and a walk would not be the ideal way for a senior righthander to begin his first varsity start.

But Bangor High School’s Jared Hockman settled down after a shaky 35-pitch, one-run first inning to notch his first win, and doubles by Joe Vanidestine and Jimmy Shea triggered a three-run fourth inning as the Rams edged Old Town 3-2 at Mansfield Stadium Wednesday night.

Bangor is now 9-3 while Old Town fell to 6-6.

Hockman surrendered six hits and two earned runs over six innings with nine strikeouts and two walks. He had five consecutive strikeouts in one stretch and threw 71 strikes among his 113 pitches.

Leadoff singles by Chris Brissette and Jason Robbins and a 2-0 count on Brad Goody in the seventh sent Bangor coach Jeff Fahey to the mound to replace Hockman with sophomore lefty Steve Fergerson, who sandwiched the final three outs around Chris Rand’s RBI single.

“I was a little antsy to start the game,” said Hockman, who had thrown only one inning this season. “But I knew it would come.”

Hockman kept the Indian hitters off balance by effectively mixing up his curve and good, live fastball.

“I had confidence in my curve. And having two pitches is better than having one,” said Hockman, who struck out Brissette and Robbins with the bases loaded in the first inning to escape further damage after Ben Clark had singled home a run.

“That gave me a boost. That inning could have gotten ugly,” said Hockman.

“He pitched a great game,” said Shea.

Lefty Jason Robbins pitched well in defeat, allowing six hits and two earned runs over six innings with seven strikeouts and one walk.

Vanidestine opened the decisive fourth inning by lining an opposite-field double down the right field line.

He scored when Shea grounded the next pitch down the third base line for a double.

“I actually got out in front of that fastball,” said Shea.

Justin Libbey reached on an infield error, and a throwing error on Josh Johnson’s bunt single produced the second run before a wild pitch on strike three allowed the final run to cross the plate.

After the seventh-inning singles by Brissette and Robbins, Fergerson struck out Goody despite inheriting a 2-0 count.

Rand lined an RBI single to center but Robbins was thrown out at third on a relay from center fielder Ryan Worcester to shortstop Chris Bombardier to third baseman Justin Libbey.

“That was a big play,” said Ram coach Fahey.

Fergerson then fanned Sean McAuley to end the game.

McAuley had singled to open the game and eventually scored on Clark’s base hit.

“I just tried to throw strikes, basically,” said Fergerson.

The Rams played errorless ball to back the pitching of Hockman and Fergerson.

Rams 3, Indians 2

Old Town (6-6) Bangor (9-3)

Player AB R H BI Player AB BI

McAuley, cf 4 1 1 0 Worcester, cf 3 0 0

Tidwell, ss 2 0 0 0 Vanidestine, rf 3 1 0

Tewhey, 3b 3 0 0 0 Shea, 2b 3 1 1

Clark, 1b 3 0 1 1 Libbey, 3b 3 1 0

Cole, c 3 0 1 0 Johnson, 1b 3 0

Brissette, lf 3 1 1 0 Proctor, dh 3 0

Robbins, p 2 0 1 0 Bouchard, c 2 0 0

a-Cyr 0 0 0 0 b-Nickerson 0 0

Goody, dh 3 0 1 0 Anderson, lf 2 0 0

Stormann, 2b 0 0 0 0 c-Campbell 1 0 0

Rand, rf 3 0 1 1 Bombardier, ss 3 0

Totals 26 2 7 2 Totals 26 3 1

a-ran for Robbins in 4th inning, b-ran for Bouchard in 6th inning, c-struck out for Anderson in 6th inning

Old Town 100 000 1 ? 2

Bangor 000 300 x ? 3

E? Tewhey, Cole, Tidwell, Stormann; LOB? Old Town 5, Bangor 6; 2B? Vanidestine, Shea, Bouchard, Goody; SB? McAuley

Old Town IP H R ER BB SO

Robbins (L, 2-2) 6 6 3 2 1 7

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Hockman (W, 1-0) 6 6 2 2 2 9

Fergerson (S, 2) 1 1 0 0 0 2

WP? Robbins 3, Hockman; T? 1:58; ATT? 180 (est.)