Orono, Bangor in final Both teams set for state tourney

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BANGOR – To borrow from the vernacular popularized by NCAA basketball tournament fans: They know they’re going to the big dance. They just don’t know who their dance partners will be.

For the second straight year, both Orono and Bangor will represent Zone 1 in the American Legion state baseball tournament, which starts on Saturday.

The 21-3 Twins cemented their spot Saturday night while 18-7 Bangor earned its place with a 6-4 win Sunday afternoon over Trenton. That was the easy part.

The hard part is figuring out who will go in as zone champ and who will be runnerup. That question was left lingering after No. 2 seed Bangor drubbed Orono, the regular season champs, 10-3 Sunday night at Mansfield Stadium.

Bangor’s win left both teams with one loss in the double-elimination tourney. The champ will be named Monday as the teams meet for the sixth time this season at 8 p.m.

Sunday night, James Strout led Bangor’s 14-hit outburst by going 4-four-5 with three RBIs. It was typical of the Comrades’ attack as none of their hits were for extra bases.

“I got one cheap hit, which helped, but I was just seeing it pretty well,” Strout said. “We’ve just come together offensively more and more as the tournament’s gone on.”

Bangor catcher Shawn Bouchard also marched in the hit parade with three hits and one RBI.

“Scoring early … Hitting the ball early kind of carried over for us after the first game,” said Bangor coach Joe Nelson.

As much as the offense has heated up, it’s the Comrades’ pitching – especially in relief – that has led them to the states again.

For the third straight game, Bangor got solid, 1-2 efforts from its starter and reliever as Bill Chapman (3-1) limited Orono to three hits and two earned runs in six innings of work while Steve Fergerson earned a save with three innings of one-hit, scoreless relief.

“We got good pitching all day today,” said Nelson. “Billy’s a competitor and Steve nibbles around the plate all the time. Also our defense made all the plays.”

Bangor frustrated Orono with bloops, flares, fielder’s choices and well-placed hits all night.

“That’s kind of frustrating when they do that to you,” said Twins starter Daryl Watson.

“The big thing was defense. We made one error in the first two games and three tonight while they didn’t make any,” said Twins coach Jay Kemble.

Bangor iced the game by scoring three runs in both the seventh and eighth. Strout, batting in the No. 8 slot, hit RBI singles in each inning.

Orono’s big inning was the seventh as an RBI triple by Tyler Jellison and an RBI double by Mike Merritt chased Chapman.

Sunday afternoon, after pulling out a dramatic win over Brewer Saturday, the Bangor Comrades were hoping for a more leisurely victory.

Those hopes were dashed as the Trenton Acadians scored four runs in the fifth and took that 4-0 lead into the seventh.

Once again it was up to Bangor’s opportunistic hitting attack and once again it came through. This time it was a six-run seventh fueled by Bouchard’s grand slam to center field that rallied the Comrades as they registered a 6-4 win.

Jim Shea’s screaming line drive to the base of the fence in left with one out in the seventh and the bases loaded looked like it would at least cut Trenton’s 4-0 lead in half, but left fielder Jacob Lowell barehanded the ball and fired a rocket to the cutoff man to hold Bangor to just one run. That left it to Bouchard, who was 0-for-3 on the day.

Bouchard worked the count to 3-1 and then pounced all over a fastball from Trenton starter Travis Tripp and rifled a shot to left center. Center fielder Chek Wingo immediately drew a bead on the deep fly and began to slowly backtrack, waiting for it to come down. As Wingo continued backing up, the ball kept flying out and he ran out of real estate before the ball came down.

“I figured I had nothing to lose so I just wanted to swing as hard as I can and just put it somewhere. I was going around the bases saying ‘at least I got a sac fly’,” Bouchard said. “I thought he had it, but it just stayed up there.”

Bouchard’s shot sent Tripp to the dugout. Baren Yurchick took over, walked Chapman and gave up a single to Andy Sullivan before Chapman was gunned down on a steal attempt. Back-to-back singles by Chris Bombardier and Josh Young scored the final run.

Young was also doing the job in the field as he came on in relief of Sullivan and pitched 4? innings of scoreless, one-hit relief for his second win of the season.

“I was working inside and out and I was going mostly outside and low. My regular straight fastball was a great location pitch and they couldn’t touch it,” Young said.

Young, a Legion rookie who played JV ball at Bangor this spring, looked composed as he threw 32 of 47 pitches for strikes.

“He was able to place the ball exceptionally well, like I’d call an outside fastball and he’d put it right where my mitt was,” said Bouchard.

Kevin Proctor went 3-for-4 for Bangor and Lowell led 15-9 Trenton with two hits and two RBIs.

Bangor 6, Brewer 5

At Bangor on Saturday, Ryan Worcester nailed two singles with an RBI to pace Bangor.

Kevin Proctor and Jim Shea each belted two singles to aid the Bangor attack. Bill Chapman entered the game in the ninth to retire Brewer’s last two batters with a runner in scoring position.

Justin Spencer led Brewer with a leadoff home run in the sixth inning.

Brewer (13-10) 000 003 101 – 5 8 7

Bangor (16-7) 130 020 00x – 6 11 1

Gomm and Griffin; Treadwell, Fergerson (7), Chapman (9) and Bouchard

Orono 10, Trenton 1

At Bangor, Bo Thomas nailed a three-run home run in the eighth inning to aid Orono.

Brian Tewhey belted a double and a single with two RBIs for Orono.

Chek Wingo doubled and Mike Cowperthwaite added two singles with an RBI for Trenton.

Trenton (15-8) 000 000 010 – 1 6 4

Orono (21-2) 100 141 03x – 10 9 0

Sargent, Dow (7) and Awalt; Brown and Cole

Comrades 6, Acadians 4

(Sunday Afternoon)

Trenton (15-9) Bangor (17-7)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Wingo, cf 5 0 0 0 Worcester, cf 4 1 0

Gray, 1b 5 1 1 0 Proctor, rf 4 1 0

Awalt, c 4 1 1 0 Shea, 2b 4 1 1

Lowell, lf 4 0 2 2 Bouchard, c 5 1 4

Cowperthwaite, dh 4 0 2 0 Chapman, 3b 4 0

Colbeth, 2b 4 0 0 0 Sullivan, p-1b 3 1 0

Clapp, ss 2 1 0 0 Bombardier, ss 4 0 0

Sargent, 3b 4 1 1 1 Treadwell, lf 2 0 0

Reuter, rf 4 0 0 1 Young, p 1 1 1

Tremble, 1b-lf 4 0 0 0

Totals 36 4 7 4 Totals 36 6 11 6

Trenton 000 040 000 ? 4

Bangor 000 000 60x ? 6

E?Clapp; Chapman, Sullivan, Bombardier; LOB? Trenton 8; Bangor 11; 2B? Lowell, Sargent; HR? Bouchard (5); S? Sargent; SF?; SB? Worcester 2, Shea

Trenton IP H R ER BB SO

Tripp (L,3-4) 6? 7 5 5 4 4

Yurchick 1? 4 1 1 0 0

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Sullivan 4? 6 4 4 1 3

Young (W,2-0) 4? 1 0 0 0 1

HBP? Clapp by Sullivan; Shea by Yurchick; WP? Sullivan; T? 2:05; ATT? 146

Comrades 10, Twins 3

(Sunday Night)

Bangor (18-7) Orono (21-3)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Worcester, cf 6 0 1 2 Sweeney, 2b 2 0

Proctor, rf 6 2 2 0 Merritt, 2b 2 0 1

Shea, 2b 4 1 1 0 a-Levesque 1 0 0

Bouchard, c 5 2 3 1 Cousineau, ss 5 0 0

Chapman, p 4 1 0 0 Wheaton, rf 3 0 0

Fergerson, p 0 0 0 1 Thomas, c 2 1 0

Sullivan, 1b 5 2 2 1 Tewhey, 3b 3 0 0

Bombardier, ss 4 1 1 0 Malone, 3b 1 0

Strout, lf 5 0 4 3 Goody, 1b 3 0 0

Tremble, 3b 4 1 0 0 Clark, dh 3 0 0

Rand, lf 2 1 0 1

Jellison, cf 4 1 1 1

Totals 43 10 14 8 Totals 31 3 4 3

a-flied out for Merritt in ninth

Bangor 100 102 330 ? 10

Orono 010 000 200 ? 3

E?Sweeney, Tewhey, Watson; LOB?Bangor 11; Orono 8; 2B?Merritt; 3B?Jellison; SF?Fergerson; SB?Shea, Bouchard, Strout 2

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Chapman (W,3-1) 6 3 3 2 7 4

Fergerson (S,2) 3 1 0 0 0 2

Orono IP H R ER BB SO

Watson (L,4-2) 6? 10 7 3 1 4

Glossian 2? 4 3 3 2 1

HBP?Shea by Glossian; WP?Watson, Glossian; T?2:15; ATT?139