BREWER – The 17th-seeded Ellsworth High School Eagles’ improbable Eastern Maine Class B playoff run came to a screeching halt at Heddericg Field Thursday night.

The Eagles self-destructed in John Bapst’s seven-run first inning and stylish sophomore lefthander Cole McElwain was terrific for the Crusaders’ first-ever top-seeded baseball team as John Bapst triumphed 9-1.

The 13-4 Crusaders, winners of six of their last seven, will entertain No. 4 Camden Hills, 12-5, in Saturday’s 1 p.m. semifinal at Heddericg Field.

McElwain hurled 62/3 innings of no-hit baseball, striking out eight and walking two. He threw 61 strikes among his 100 pitches. John Bapst coach Mike Miragliuolo wanted to get some work for pitchers James Strout and Andy Tremble, but McElwain had to be summoned to bail both of them out of jams.

Strout faced two batters to start the fourth and Tremble was replaced after going to a 2-1 count on his fifth batter of the sixth.

“My fastball and curve were both pretty decent today,” said McElwain. “And getting a 7-0 lead took a lot of stress off me.”

Ellsworth coach Charlie Farley said McElwain was “by far, the best pitcher we’ve faced this season. He had a good curve and he threw hard enough to keep our hitters off balance.”

All seven first-inning runs off Ellsworth righty Justin Gott were unearned as the Eagles committed five errors.

Billy Chapman started the rally with a crisp one-out single to center and he moved to second on an errant pickoff throw by Gott.

Zach Means bounced to third baseman Mike Archer, who overthrew first for the first of his three throwing errors. Chapman scored on the play.

Tremble then grounded to Archer, who threw too low to first, allowing Means to score.

Zev Myerowitz singled home Tremble, and Pat Healy reached on a two-out infield hit.

A run-producing throwing error by shortstop Seth Mayo, a balk, a pair of stolen bases, and Archer’s third throwing error, which allowed two more runs to score, completed the rally.

“We had one bad inning or it would have been a 2-1 game. Nobody expected us to get this far,” said Farley, whose Eagles finished at 3-16 including two playoff wins.

Myerowitz had an RBI triple to go with his RBI single to pace John Bapst.

“I haven’t had as good a season as I had hoped, but I’m starting to come around now,” said Myerowitz, a .289 hitter entering the game.

Bryan Snyder and Means had two singles each.

Senior Archer, playing third this season for the first time, had the only two hits for Ellsworth, both singles.

Crusaders 9, Eagles 1

Ellsworth (3-16) John Bapst (13-4)

Player AB R H BI Player AB BI

Smith, cf 3 1 0 0 Strout, 2b-p 4 0 0

Mayo, ss-p 3 0 0 0 Chapman, 3b 4 0

Archer, 3b 4 0 2 0 Means, 1b 3 0

Awalt, c 2 0 0 0 Tremble, rf-p 4 0

Jones, lf 3 0 0 0 Myerowitz, 1b 3 2 2

Gott, p-2b 1 0 0 0 Brown, 1b 0 0

Hunnewell, 2b 1 0 0 0 Snyder, cf-rf 4 1

Hardison, 2b-ss 3 0 0 Healy, dh-2b 2 1 0

Buckingham, rf 3 0 0 0 McElwain, p-lf 1 0

Desmond, 1b 2 0 0 0 Gray, c 2 1 0 0

Jellison, lf-cf 1 0

Totals 25 1 2 0 Totals 28 9 8 3

Ellsworth 000 001 0 ? 1

John Bapst 700 200 x ? 9

E?Archer 4, Gott, Mayo; Strout, Brown; LOB?Ellsworth 8, John Bapst 8; 3B?Myerowitz; SB?Snyder 2, McElwain, Healy, Myerowitz, Gray

Ellsworth IP H R ER BB SO

Gott (L,0-6) 4 7 9 2 4 1

Mayo 2 1 0 0 1 4

John Bapst IP H R ER BB SO

McElwain (W,4-0) 62/3 0 0 0 2 8

Strout 0 1 0 0 1 0

Tremble 1/3 1 1 0 2 0

WP?Strout, Tremble, Gott; BK?Gott; PB?Gray; T?1:51; ATT?110 (est.)