Opportunistic Orono gains win

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BANGOR – The Orono Twins took advantage of costly errors to knock off Coastal Athletics of South Portland while Bangor played errorless ball, but still couldn’t overcome a great effort on the mound by Nova Seafood of Portland’s Joel Breton.

The Twins benefited from five unearned runs as they edged Coastal 6-5 Saturday morning in the opening round of the American Legion State Tournament at Mansfield Stadium. Breton pitched a six-hitter to tame Bangor and lead Nova to a 7-3 victory Saturday night.

Saturday morning, Orono scored two unearned runs in the third, one in the fourth, and two more in the fifth to take a 6-4 lead and then squirmed through the next four innings.

There were several key plays, but the one looming largest came in the seventh after Coastal’s Greg Norton led off with a single. He went to second and third on a fielding error by second baseman Mike Merritt that could have resulted in an inning-ending double play, but instead left runners at the corners with one out.

Charlie Furbush then belted a grounder to second, which Merritt fielded cleanly before rifling a throw home to try to nail Norton. Catcher Roger Cole blocked the plate, forcing Norton to try and hurdle him. Norton did clear him without Cole managing a tag, but missed the plate. After walking toward the dugout, Cole sprang up, tagged the plate, and then tagged Norton for the second out.

The erased run would prove pivotal later as Coastal would score an unearned run in the eighth via Orono’s second and last error of the game. Instead of tying the game, Coastal was still a run down and Orono starter Brad Wheaton escaped further damage with an inning-ending groundout.

“It’s nice to put pressure on a team and make them make errors. That’s the reason we won this game was their errors,” said Wheaton, now 8-0. “I never once got in a groove. I don’t know what it was. I just did everything I could to get ground balls because I knew my stuff wasn’t there.”

With his fastball on the blink, Wheaton went with more breaking stuff than usual.

“That may have actually helped him because we hit the fastball very well,” said Coastal coach Chris Gillespie. “We also helped him out quite a bit by swinging at too many high pitches in big situations.”

Ryan Brown came on in the ninth and, after yielding a leadoff walk, notched three quick outs to end the game.

Third baseman Brian Tewhey led Orono’s offense with an RBI single in the first and a two-run single in the third.

Saturday night, Breton (7-0) was Mr. Super-Nova as he scattered six hits, struck out seven hitters, and walked one while throwing 89 of 128 pitches for strikes.

“My slider was definitely effective tonight along with my outside fastball,” Breton said. “I dropped down and that was probably my most effective stuff. My pitches were tailing and getting in on their hands.”

Nova’s big inning was the second as it came up with four runs on an RBI triple by Mike Giglio (2-for-4, 2 RBIs, 3 runs) and a two-out, two-run single by Scott Brown, who led the offense by going 3-for-3 with four RBIs.

Bangor halved Nova’s 4-0 lead with two runs in the second on James Strout’s two-run single to right and made it 4-3 in the fourth with Andy Sullivan’s double and a Bill Chapman RBI groundout.

The Comrades would never threaten again as Breton held them to two hits over the last five innings and no Bangor runner was able to advance past second base the rest of the game.

Oxford Hills 7, Waterville 6

At Bangor Saturday afternoon, two infield errors and a two-run, two-out single by Garrett Olson helped fuel a five-run rally in the seventh, and then Nate Jones won it for the Vikings with a one-out RBI double in the bottom of the ninth.

Cody Wall led off with a single for Oxford Hills in the ninth and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt before the game-winning hit by Jones (2-for-4, two RBIs). Wall had two singles and an RBI while Greg Stacy also had two singles. Olson got the win in relief.

Corey Gardiner led Waterville by going 4-for-4 at the plate while Kevin O’Heir had three singles and an RBI. Brooks Paradis had a double, single and stolen base while Chris McCabe and Josh Cholewa each had two singles.

Waterville (14-9) 001 013 100 – 6 15 3

Oxford Hills (19-4) 000 001 501 – 7 9 0

Dubay, Johansmeier (9) and Cholewa; Cummings, Olson (5), Batchelder (7) and Stacy

Monmouth 12, New Auburn 2

At Bangor Saturday afternoon, Seth Emery led an 18-hit attack by Monmouth with a 4-for-5 effort with a double and three singles.

Greg Creek, Ben Muniz and Tip Fairchild each had three hits for Monmouth. Creek had a double and three RBIs, Fairchild had two RBIs, and Muniz drove in one run. Mike Daggett notched the win with 6? innings of solid pitching.

New Auburn (18-6) 100 000 1 – 2 8 0

Monmouth (20-5) 300 340 2 – 12 18 1

Flynn, Gamache (5) and McIntosh; Daggett, Stroup (7) and Buckley

Twins 6, Coastal Athletics 5

(Saturday Morning)

Orono (22-4) Coastal Athletics (20-6)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Merritt, 2b 3 1 0 1 Cook, 2b 5 0 0

Cousineau, rf 0 0 0 0 Pascale, dh 5 0

Tidwell, ss 5 1 2 0 Needleman, rf 0 0 0

Wheaton, p-rf 4 2 1 0 Norton, 3b-p 4 0

Goody, 1b 5 0 1 0 R.Rutherford, cf 3 0

Tewhey, 3b 4 1 2 3 M.Rutherford, c 5 1 2

Brown, rf-p 4 0 0 0 Henrikson, 1b 2 0 0

Cole, c 2 0 0 0 C.Furbush, 1b 2 0 0

Watson, cf 3 1 0 0 Neault, lf 5 0 2

Jellison, lf 3 0 0 1 Gillespie, rf 3 0 0

A-Gardner 1 0 0 0

Guillerault, 3b 0 0 0 0

Ghiloni, ss 2 1 1 0

Totals 33 6 6 5 Totals 37 5 10 4

a-flied out for Gillespie in eighth

Orono 102 120 000 6

Coastal Athletics 004 000 010 5

E? Merritt, Tidwell; Henrikson 3, Gillespie; LOB? Orono 8; Coastal 10; 2B? Pascale, M. Rutherford; DP? Tidwell-Merritt-Goody; Ghiloni-C. Furbush, Cook-Ghiloni-C. Furbush; SF? Merritt

Orono IP H R ER BB SO

Wheaton (W, 8-0) 8 10 5 4 6 4

Brown (S,1) 1 0 0 0 1 1

Coastal IP H R ER BB SO

J. Furbush (L,6-2) 8 6 6 1 6 7

Norton 1 0 0 0 0 3

HBP? Jellison by Furbush; Norton by Wheaton; PB? Cole 2, M. Rutherford; T? 2:50; ATT? 207

Nova Seafood 7, Comrades 3

(Saturday Night)

Nova Seafood (26-3) Bangor (19-8)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Giglio, lf 4 3 2 2 Bombardier, ss 5 0 0

Exley, rf 5 1 2 0 Proctor, rf 4 0 0

Caron, ss 4 1 0 0 Shea, 2b 4 0 0

Breton, p 3 0 2 1 Bouchard, c 4 0 0

Brown, 1b 3 0 3 4 Sullivan, 1b 4 2 0

Drake, cf 4 0 0 0 Chapman, 3b 3 1 1

Dvilinsky, 3b 5 1 1 0 Treadwell, lf 2 0

Bartlett, c 5 1 2 0 Fergerson, lf 2 0 0

Flaherty, 2b 4 0 0 0 Strout, p-cf 4 0 2

Tremble, cf 2 0 0 0

Young, p 2 0 0 0

Totals 37 7 12 7 Totals 36 3 6 3

Nova Seafood 130 001 011 ? 7

Bangor 020 100 000 ? 3

E? Caron, Brown; LOB? Nova 14, Bangor 7; 2B? Dvilinsky, Bartlett, Sullivan; 3B? Giglio; DP? Shea (una.); Caron-Flaherty-Brown; SB? Breton, Exley, Flaherty; Strout

Nova IP H R ER BB SO

Breton (W,7-0) 9 6 3 3 1 8

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Strout (L,2-2) 4? 6 4 4 6 4

Young 4? 6 3 3 3 6

HBP? Breton by Young; WP? Breton; PB? Bartlett, Bouchard; T? 2:34; ATT? 254