BREWER – After being blanked 5-0 and striking out 13 times against Old Town’s Ryan Brown on Wednesday, the Brewer High School Witches wanted to get on the scoreboard early against Bangor High School ace righthander Josh Young on Thursday night.

The Witches came out swinging, collecting four consecutive hits good for three runs in the bottom of the first and junior lefthander Chad Gomm fired a four-hitter as the Witches beat Young and the Rams 5-4 at Heddericg Field.

“Those four straight hits were huge,” said Witch first baseman Joel Barrett, who had one of the four hits in the first and crushed a two-run homer in the third that proved to be the game-winner. “We had a total team effort tonight.”

Barrett’s fourth homer of the season staked the Witches to a 5-1 lead and Gomm survived a three-run fourth inning to record his first-ever win over Bangor in four outings.

“My curve really worked well tonight. That’s my best pitch. That’s my out pitch. My fastball worked well, too,” said Gomm.

Gomm dominated the Ram hitters with his curve.

He struck out six and walked four while throwing 100 pitches, 62 for strikes. Two of the runs off him were unearned.

Gomm, now 3-2, avenged a 1-0 loss to Young 14 days ago.

Young, who has been battling the stomach flu, settled down after Barrett’s homer. He allowed just three hits the rest of the way.

Sophomore Young, now 5-1, finished with a nine-hitter. He struck out six and didn’t walk anybody while throwing 55 strikes among his 81 pitches.

“It usually takes me an inning to settle in,” said Young.

Zach Bouzan-Kaloustian opened the bottom of the first with a sharp single to left. Tony Doucette did likewise and Barrett reached on an infield single to load the bases.

A wild pitch produced the first run before Joe Griffin ripped a two-run double down the left-field line.

Bangor had scored a run in the top of the first but could have had more.

Nate Hall was hit by a pitch and Kevin Proctor hit a towering fly that was misplayed by center fielder Matt Sargent and fell behind him. There was some confusion over whether or not he caught the ball.

Proctor missed first base and was tagged out by Barrett. Hall wound up on third and scored on Bouzan-Kaloustian’s throwing error to the plate on Chris Bombardier’s grounder.

In the third, Barrett followed a sharp single by Doucette and a passed ball by turning on a Young curve and pulling a laser shot over the left-field fence.

“I just wanted to jump on the first pitch. That was the second pitch. It was a curve that was a little high and a little inside. It wasn’t that bad a [pitcher’s] pitch. I was able to turn on it,” said Barrett.

Bangor, now 12-3, got three back in the fourth on three walks, Young’s RBI single and a two-out fielding error by Bouzan-Kaloustian that allowed two runs to score.

Pinch-hitter Shawn Dennis walked to lead off the seventh for Bangor and stole second but Witch third baseman Chris Cote made an alert play on Hall’s grounder, faking to first and then throwing to second to create a rundown that nailed Dennis.

Barrett had three hits for 12-4 Brewer while Shawn Sutherland and Doucette had two hits each as did Bangor’s Proctor and Young.

WITCHES 5, RAMS 4

Bangor (12-3) Brewer (12-4)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Hall, rf 3 1 0 0 Bo’-Kaloustian, ss 3 0

Proctor, lf 4 0 2 0 Doucette, 2b 3 2 0

Bombardier, ss 3 0 0 1 Barrett, 1b 3 2

Treadwell, dh 4 1 0 0 Griffin, c 3 2

Baker, 3b 0 0 0 0 Cote, 3b 3 0 0

Nickerson, cf 2 0 0 0 Sargent, cf 3 0

Young, p 3 0 2 1 Sutherland, rf 3 0 0

a-Clarke 0 1 0 0 Patterson, dh 3 0 0

Shain, 1b 2 1 0 0 Bell, lf 2 0 0

Willette, c 3 0 0 0 b-Bernier 1 0 0

N. Larochelle, 2b 2 0 0 0

c-Dennis 0 0 0 0

Totals 26 4 4 2 Totals 27 5 9 4

a-ran for Young in 4th inning; b-struck out for Bell in 6th inning; c-walked for N. Larochelle in 7th inning

Bangor 100 300 0 ? 4

Brewer 302 000 0 ? 5

E? Bouzan-Kaloustian 2, Sargent; LOB? Bangor 6, Brewer 4; 2B? Griffin, Sutherland; HR? Barrett (4); SB? Dennis, Sutherland, Barrett

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Young (L, 5-1) 6 9 5 5 0 6

Brewer IP H R ER BB SO

Gomm (W, 3-2) 7 4 4 2 4 6

HBP? Hall by Gomm; WP? Young; PB? Willette; T? 1:44; ATT? 100 (est.)