West edges East in 10 innings 8-7 Greg Creek named Mr. Baseball

BANGOR -It was hard to find anyone happier than Biddeford High School’s Jamie Grattelo, Maranacook of Readfield’s Greg Creek, and University of Maine baseball coach Paul Kostacopoulos following Friday night’s Maine High School Senior All-Star Game.

The come-from-behind, extra-inning thriller won 8-7 by the West in 10 innings was memorable for all, but certain portions of it were much more memorable than others, depending on who you were.

Creek preferred the start of the game whereas Grattelo’s favorite part was the end. Kostacopoulos? Well, he just sat back and enjoyed watching the whole thing since two of the primary players in the West’s victory are both coming to Orono to play next season.

Creek was named the winner of the 10th annual Dr. John Winkin Maine Mr. Baseball Award as the best senior player in the state just before the start of the game and then showed he wasn’t about to rest on his laurels as he went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.

Grattelo notched the win by pitching the last three innings in impressive fashion. The tall righthander struck out six batters, walked none, and allowed no hits in his shutout relief effort. If that wasn’t already enough, he also went 2-for-3 at the plate with the game-winning hit in the 10th.

Grattelo’s third at-bat came with one out and runners at the corners in the bottom of the 10th. Third base coach Mike D’Andrea gave him the bunt sign as he stepped up to the plate and Grattelo got his bat on a high and outside fastball from another UMaine-bound pitcher, Van Buren’s Phil Smith, and dropped it perfectly up the first base line for a game-winning RBI bunt single.

“That’s the second time I’ve laid down a suicide bunt this year. I love being in a clutch position like that. I’m glad I got the opportunity,” Grattelo said. “This was a great way to end a season.”

It wasn’t exactly a great season for Grattelo, who struggled at times as he battled through fatigue problems. But all that was forgotten Friday as he routinely hit 88 and 89 miles per hour on Kostacopoulos’ radar gun.

“I haven’t had that kind of velocity. I’ve had kind of a rough season, throwing-wise, since I’ve had to throw on three or four days of rest most of the time,” Grattelo explained. “I had six coming in tonight, so I was very well-rested. It’s the fastest I’ve thrown all year.”

Grattelo, who was pacing himself early on because he had been told he was starting in an American Legion game on Saturday, used a fastball with pinpoint accuracy to stay ahead of hitters and put them back in the batter’s box.

“I was expecting only to go one [inning] since I’m supposed to pitch tomorrow, but I didn’t want to come out” Grattelo said. “I definitely went a lot farther than I thought I would, but I was up there having fun. It was probably the most comfortable I’ve felt all year.”

The East outhit the West 11-10 and got off to a great start with two runs in the first, one each in the second and third, and three in the fourth to take a 7-2 lead into the fifth, but couldn’t plate a run against the West’s last three pitchers, who combined to allow four hits in six scoreless innings.

Meanwhile, the West scratched back for three unearned runs in the fifth on a costly East fielding error. The game was tied in the eighth after Calvin Rinck of Cape Elizabeth led off with a double, Edward Little’s Derek McIntosh walked, and Noble’s Greg Kimball hit an RBI single. Two strikeouts later by Hermon pitcher Ryan Garland, Yarmouth’s Mike Erkinnen tied it with a hard single up the middle.

“This was fun. You don’t get a chance like this very much,” said Creek. “This was just a great game, to come back from where we were and win it.”

Not to mention taking home a handsome trophy to boot.

“It was a big surprise because all the other guys are good players,” said Creek, who went 4-1 with a 1.10 ERA and hit .488 with 6 home runs and 29 RBIs this season. “I didn’t really think about it until coach told me I was a finalist.”

Skowhegan Indians players James York (2-for-2) and Jeremy York (one hit, no walks and three strikeouts in two innings pitched) helped lead the East.

East 211 300 000 0 – 7 11 2

West 100 130 020 1 – 8 10 3

Dubay, York (2), Vanidestine (4), Nadeau (6), Wentworth (7), Garland (8), Smith (9) and Zemrak, Kane (4), Zemrak (9); Furbush, Warner (3), Bubier (5), Graham (6), Gratello (8) and McIntosh, Stacy (3), McIntosh (8)