Caron gets ball, carries Deering to crown

loading...

BANGOR – Devin Caron got the call in the first inning of Saturday’s Class A baseball state championship game to help freshman starter Ryan Reid get out of a jam.

The plan was to put Reid back in to start the second inning. Caron refused to relinquish the ball.

The junior righthander, making one of only three or four pitching stints this season, pitched seven innings of three-hit shutout relief and his teammates repaid him with a seven-run seventh inning that carried Deering High of Portland to a 9-2 victory over Waterville at Mansfield Stadium.

“We were going to go back to [Reid] in the second inning once Devin got us out of it, but Devin looked at me and said, ‘I want the ball.’ How do you take the ball away from a kid who says that to you?” asked Deering coach and former University of Maine star pitcher Mike D’Andrea.

The 19-1 Rams captured the school’s third straight state title. Eastern Maine champ Waterville ended an outstanding year at 15-1.

Caron’s determination reflected the confidence of the Deering squad, which needed five innings against Panthers starter Josh Dubay to erase the 2-1 deficit and then put the game away in the seventh.

“After the first inning, I told [D’Andrea], ‘I’m not getting out of this game,’ ” Caron said. “I said, ‘I want the ball. You’re not putting Reidy back in.’ ”

Caron, Deering’s starting shortstop, had the longest outing of his high school career. He came on with the bases loaded and nobody out in the first and allowed a single to Corey Gardiner before retiring the next three batters.

Dubay’s sacrifice fly was the only damage.

“They ended up scoring one run in that situation: Bases loaded. No outs. That’s impressive,” said D’Andrea, who didn’t want to leave Reid in and risk destroying his confidence by allowing him to give up several runs.

“I wanted it to be an upperclassman who could handle something like that,” he added.

Deering broke it open in the seventh. Greg Placey doubled to right-center, advanced on a passed ball and scored on Josh Stoll’s opposite-field double down the left-field line.

Andy Exley slashed an RBI single to left, then Caron reached on a dropped fly ball to left, spelling the end for Dubay. Jake Johansmeier came on and surrendered run-scoring singles to Joel Breton and Scott Brown. Scott Bartlett followed with a one-out sacrifice fly, then two runs scored on a pair of throwing errors.

“For six innings it was an awesome ballgame,” Waterville coach Dick Whitten said. “I thought we had a chance to get to him [Caron]. We just couldn’t get the big hit when we needed it again.”

Stoll doubled twice and singled with two RBIs to lead the Rams. Breton singled three times, Placey doubled and singled, and Bartlett stroked two singles.

“We know what it’s like [to play in a state championship game],” Stoll said. “We can put it away.”

Kris Vigue, who made two superb plays at shortstop, singled twice and plated a run for Waterville, which managed only five hits.

Deering took a 1-0 lead in the first on a leadoff single by Stoll and a two-out hit by Breton.

Waterville countered as Brooks Paradis worked Reid for a walk during a 10-pitch at-bat, then Chris Hart and Vigue singled to produce a run, chasing Reid. Corey Gardiner’s single and Dubay’s sacrifice fly gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead.

The Rams tied it in the fifth when Mike Giglio singled to right, advanced on Placey’s sacrifice bunt, and scored when Stoll punched an opposite-field double to left.

Rams 9, Panthers 2

Deering (19-1) Waterville (15-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Stoll, cf 4 2 3 2 Paradis, rf 3 1 0

Exley, rf 4 1 1 1 Hart, 3b 3 1 0

Caron, ss-p 4 1 0 0 Vigue, ss 4 0 1

Breton, 3b-ss 4 0 3 2 Gardiner, lf 2 0

a-Burlson 0 1 0 0 Dubay, p-1b 2 0 1

Brown, 2b 4 1 1 1 Johansmeier, 1b-p 3 0

Drake, lf-3b 3 0 1 0 Cholewa, c 3 0 0

Bartlett, c 3 0 2 1 O’Heir, 2b 3 0 0

Giglio, dh 3 2 1 0 Harmon, cf 1 0 0

Reid, p-lf 0 0 0 0

Dvilinsky, 3b 0 0 0 0

Placey, 1b 2 1 2 0

b-Presby 1 0 0 0

Totals 32 9 14 7 Totals 24 2 5 2

a-ran for Breton in the seventh; b-flied out for Placey in the seventh

Deering 100 010 7 ? 9

Waterville 200 000 0 ? 2

E?Caron, Brown; Gardiner, Vigue, Dubay; LOB?Deering 7, Waterville 7; 2B?Stoll 2, Placey; DP?O’Heir-Vigue-Johansmeier; S?Drake, Placey; SF?Bartlett; Dubay; SB?Drake

Deering IP H R ER BB SO

Reid 0* 2 2 2 1 0

Caron (W,2-0) 7 3 0 0 3 3

Waterville IP H R ER BB SO

Dubay (L,9-1) 6# 12 6 5 0 3

Johansmeier 1 2 3 0 0 0

*-pitched to three batters in the first; #-pitched to four batters in the seventh

HBP?Harmon by Caron; PB?Cholewa; T?2:07; ATT?250 (est.)