Barrett hit lifts Brewer past Bangor Collins preserves victory

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BREWER – Joel Barrett got what he was looking for. And he didn’t make any mistakes.

Brewer High School’s senior first baseman and No. 3 hitter ripped a two-out, two-run single to left off Bangor lefty Steve Fergerson in the bottom of the fifth inning and junior Sean Collins made it hold up with two innings of scoreless relief Thursday as the Witches rallied to beat the archrival Rams 9-8 at a cold, windy Heddericg Field.

Both teams are now 2-1.

“I was looking for a curve and he hung one to me,” said Barrett. “It was a great pitch to hit.”

Fergerson said it was a fastball down the middle, but Barrett said, “I thought it had a little bend to it.”

The hit capped a two-out rally after a 4-6-3 double play had left the bases empty.

Jon Bell started the rally with a line-drive single to right-center and Matt Sargent reached on an infield single to third baseman Kyle Baker, whose errant throw allowed the runners to move to second and third.

“Jon Bell’s hit was the big hit because it started the rally,” said Brewer coach David Morris.

Fergerson’s wild pitch delivered Bell before Zach Bouzan-Kaloustian walked and stole second. Tony Doucette walked to load the bases and Barrett lined Fergerson’s next pitch into left.

“This was a total group effort,” said Barrett. “A lot of people came through in big situations. This was a huge win for us.”

Bangor coach Jeff Fahey said Barrett is a “very good hitter.”

Fergerson, who absorbed the loss, is usually Bangor’s closer and rarely pitches more than an inning. But he was forced into duty with two outs in the third inning when starter Andy Treadwell suffered a rapid heart beat and went to Eastern Maine Medical Center with his mother.

Righty Collins came in to preserve the win for Barrett, who had relieved Andrew Patterson.

Collins allowed two singles and a walk in his two innings and struck out three.

“I just threw strikes. That’s all I had to do,” said Collins, who had total confidence in his defense.

Bangor had jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning on run-scoring singles by Baker and Nick Larochelle followed by Chris Bombardier’s two-run single.

Bell’s run-scoring single in the bottom of the second cut the deficit and the Witches took the lead with five runs in the third.

A walk and Barrett’s long, fly-ball double to center, which was misjudged by center fielder Nickerson, produced the first run. Chris Cote tied it by walloping a Treadwell fastball over the left-field fence.

Treadwell issued a walk and Fergerson came on. He gave up singles to Mike King, Bell (RBI), Matt Sargent (RBI) and Bouzan-Kaloustian before getting the final out.

Barrett replaced Patterson in the fourth after Larochelle reached on a Cote error.

Two walks sandwiched Bombardier’s RBI single.

An out later, Josh Young tied it with an RBI single and the Rams took the lead on catcher Joey Griffin’s run-producing throwing error as he tried for a 1-2-3 double play.

Nate Hall doubled and scored on a Bouzan-Kaloustian error in the top of the fifth to give Bangor an 8-6 lead.

Bell had three hits and two RBIs for Brewer while Barrett had two hits and three RBIs and Sargent had two hits and an RBI.

Bombardier had three hits and three RBIs for Bangor while Young and Hall had two hits each.

WITCHES 9, RAMS 8

Bangor (2-1) Brewer (2-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Hall, rf 4 2 2 0 Bouzan-Kal’stian,ss 2 0

Bombardier, ss 5 0 3 3 Doucette, 2b 3 0

Treadwell, p 2 0 0 0 Barrett, 1b-p 4 1 3

Fergerson, p 1 1 0 0 Griffin, c 4 1 0

Heath, p 1 0 0 0 Cote, 3b 2 1 2

Proctor, lf 4 0 1 0 Sutherland, rf 3 1 0

Young, dh 4 0 2 1 King, dh 4 1 0

a-Twombly 0 0 0 0 Bell, lf 4 1 2

Willette, c 0 0 0 0 Sargent, cf 3 1 1

Shain, 1b 2 1 0 0

Nickerson, cf 2 1 1 0

Baker, 3b 3 1 1 1

N. Larochelle, 2b 4 2 1 1

Totals 32 8 11 6 Totals 29 9 12 8

a- ran for Young in the sixth

Bangor 040 310 0 ? 8

Brewer 015 030 x ? 9

E?Bell, Cote, Griffin, Bouzan-Kaloustian; Treadwell, Baker, Larochelle; LOB?Bangor 10, Brewer 8; 2B?Hall, Barrett; HR?Cote (1); DP?Larochelle-Bombardier-Shain; SB?Hall, Bouzan-Kaloustian

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Treadwell 2 2/3 4 5 5 3 6

Fergerson (L,0-1) 2 8 4 4 2 0

Heath 1 1/3 0 0 0 1 1

Brewer IP H R ER BB SO

Patterson 3 6 5 4 2 2

Barrett (W,1-0) 2 3 3 1 2 3

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

WP?Barrett, Fergerson, Heath; T?2:51; ATT?55 (est.)