ROCKPORT – With four freshmen and two sophomores in the starting lineup, Friday afternoon’s baseball victory can certainly be called one to grow on for Maine Central Institute.

The Huskies of Pittsfield climbed out of an early hole they dug for themselves to notch a gutsy 4-3 win against Camden Hills here on a gray and gusty afternoon.

“We’re a young team so this is huge for us,” said MCI righthander Andrew St. Clair, one of only three seniors in the starting lineup. “We haven’t won many games the last couple years, but they’re one of the teams that we play well against. I don’t know why, but we do.”

St. Clair (1-1) was a big catalyst in MCI’s comeback – both on and off the mound. After yielding three runs (two unearned) on one hit, two errors, two walks, and two hit batters in the first inning, St. Clair allowed just one hit and one walk the rest of the way while notching nine total strikeouts.

“We started really slow. I struggled to find the strike zone, but then we came back and hit the ball and my arm felt better, and we got more into the game,” said St. Clair, who improved the location of his fastball while mixing in an occasional curve and changeup.

Offensively, the Colby-Sawyer College-bound St. Clair had two hits – the first a two-out RBI double to right in the first inning – and scored twice.

The Huskies, now 2-6, got another run in the third. With two outs and the bases empty, St. Clair got things started with a single up the middle. A dropped third strike moved him to second and put runners at first and second before St. Clair scored on Ryan Kennedy’s bloop single to short right center.

“We just hit the ball and kept our heads in the game,” said Kennedy, one of the heady freshmen. “This is big. It’s our second win this week and we should definitely build on this one.”

In the sixth, the Huskies performed some more two-out magic as St. Clair reached on an error and Jake LaSelle singled to right. Kennedy’s groundout to first scored St. Clair and LaSelle scored on another dropped third strike.

“There were a couple times when we didn’t execute. We didn’t get some bunts down and ran into a couple outs, and we had a couple errors,” said first-year Camden coach Scott Benzie. “We didn’t hit the ball and we had some missed opportunities. That made most of the difference in this game.”

The Windjammers, now 4-3, did tag the ball a few times, but almost each time they did it was aimed right at an MCI fielder.

“We beat Erskine with a great defensive game and we have great leadership from our four captains,” said MCI coach Phil Hendricks.

Camden stranded just four runners, but three were in scoring position. After a Camden’s Brady Butler doubled to lead off the sixth, Saucier caught his pinch runner off second and threw him out at third. One inning later, Saucier ended the game by throwing out a runner attempting to steal second.

“We were behind the eight ball, but these freshmen know how to play,” said Hendricks. “They had a great Little League career and they were undefeated in middle school last year. They’re just not nervous anymore … and I think we’re gonna surprise some people.”

HUSKIES 4, WINDJAMMERS 3

MCI (2-6) Camden Hills (4-3)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Kennedy, cf 4 1 1 0 Moro, cf 2 1 0

Saucier, c 4 0 1 0 Peck, 2b 2 0 0

Hendricks, ss 4 0 1 0 T.Dennen 2 0

St. Clair, p 4 2 2 1 W.Dennen 3 1 1

LaSelle, 3b 3 1 1 0 Butler, 3b 3 0 0

Kennedy, 1b 4 0 1 2 a-Cohn 0 0 0 0

West, dh 4 0 1 0 Massey, lf 2 0 0

Hoff, 2b 0 0 0 0 Benzie, dh 2 0 0

b-Adams 0 0 0 0 O’Brien, rf 0 0 0

Hall, rf 2 0 0 0 Dupuie, p 2 0 0

Quint, lf 2 0 1 0 c-Peats 1 0 1 0

Doherty, ss 3 0 0 0

Totals 31 4 9 3 Totals 22 3 3 1

a-ran for Butler in sixth, b-ran for West in fifth, c-singled for Dupuie in seventh

Maine Central Institute 101 020 0 ? 4

Camden Hills 300 000 0 ? 3

E? Kennedy, Hendricks, Hall; Butler, Doherty; LOB? MCI 9, Camden Hills 4; 2B? Kennedy, St. Clair; Butler; S? Peck; SB? LaSelle 2, Kennedy, Adams, Hendricks; Peck, Moro 2, Doherty, T. Dennen

MCI IP H R ER BB SO

St. Clair (W,1-1) 7 3 3 1 3 8

Camden Hills IP H R ER BB SO

Dupuie (L,1-2) 7 9 4 2 2 7

HBP? Hall; Moro, Benzie; PB? T. Dennen 2, Saucier; T? 2:11; ATT? 54