Young blanks Presque Isle Shain slam keys Ram attack

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BANGOR – Even before the first pitch was thrown, Bangor’s baseball coaches were talking about it.

After the Rams charged out to a 7-0 lead in the first inning and 11-0 in the third, they talked about it some more.

But the more he thought about it, the more inclined Bangor coach Jeff Fahey was to resist temptation and leave ace starting pitcher Josh Young in to finish Tuesday afternoon’s Class A Northeast Division quarterfinal playoff game with Presque Isle.

Course, it was kind of tough to take a starter out of a potential perfect game, which was what Bangor’s sophomore righthander was throwing after four complete.

Young didn’t get the perfect game, or the no-hitter, but he did pitch a gem of a one-hitter as top seed Bangor eliminated No. 8 Presque Isle 12-0 in a five-inning game on a bright and beautiful afternoon at Mansfield Stadium.

“We thought about it, but you need two pitchers this time of year anyway,” said Fahey, whose 14-3 Rams will host the Lawrence-Skowhegan winner in a 3 p.m. semifinal at Mansfield Thursday.

“The way Derrick [Shain] has thrown the last couple outings, this should be a tune-up for the Eastern Maine championship as far as I’m concerned,” Fahey added. “We thought about it for about 30 seconds and that was that. Right now he’s throwing as well as Josh.”

He’s certainly hitting as well. Shain turned on a 3-2 fastball and lined it just over the fence and fair for a 335-foot grand slam in the first.

“It went up and I knew I hit it pretty hard, but I saw it curving and I wasn’t sure it would get out,” said Shain of his first home run.

It was one of five Rams hits in the first as the Rams took advantage of two Wildcat miscues with seven runs. After plating one in the second, Bangor piled on three more in the third courtesy of a two-run triple by Kevin Proctor which resulted from Presque Isle’s center fielder losing the ball in the sun.

Young (6-1) threw 60 of 90 pitches for strikes while striking out four batters and walking two. Other than the fifth, he was brilliant as he continuously worked ahead in the count, changed speeds, and spotted his pitches where he wanted them.

The perfect game was lost when Aaron Keirstead fouled off three pitches before drawing a walk on a full count. Young’s no-hitter was lost when Matt Carvell followed with a single through the shortstop gap created after Chris Bombardier began moving toward second to cover the middle.

“I said ‘Guys, listen. If we’re going to go down, go down with a little pride and don’t let the season end with a perfect game,’ ” said coach Tim Olore, whose young Wildcats wind up 5-13. “From where we started to where we are now, I’m more than pleased with the season this team has had.”

Nate Hall had three singles and an RBI for Bangor while Proctor, Young, and Brian Worster each had two hits.

RAMS 12, WILDCATS 0

Presque Isle (5-13) Bangor (14-3)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Gale, ss 2 0 0 0 Hall, rf 4 2 1

Bird, cf-p 2 0 0 0 Proctor, lf 2 2 2

Clark, c 2 0 0 0 Bombardier, ss 1 2 1

Keirstead, 1b 1 0 0 0 Treadwell, dh 3 0

a-Zubrick 0 0 0 0 Baker, 3b 0 0 0

Carvell, 3b 2 0 1 0 Nickerson, cf 3 1 1

Parsons, dh 2 0 0 0 Young, p 2 1 1

Lyford, 2b 0 0 0 0 b-Chaiken 0 1 0

Sirois, 2b 0 0 0 0 Shain, 1b 3 1 4

Gagnon, p 0 0 0 0 Worster, c 3 2 0

Lavway, lf 2 0 0 0 Larochelle, 2b 1 0 0

Hale, rf 1 0 0 0 c-Fergerson 1 0 1

Putnam, rf 0 0 0 0

Swanson, lf-cf 2 0 0 0

Totals 16 0 1 0 Totals 23 12 12 11

a-ran for Keirstead in fifth, b-ran for Young in fourth, singled for Larochelle in fourth

Presque Isle 000 00 ? 0

Bangor 713 1x ? 12

E? Clark 2, Bird; LOB? Presque Isle 3; Bangor 4; 3B? Proctor; HR? Shain (1); S? Larochelle; SB? Bombardier, Hall

Presque Isle IP H R ER BB SO

Gagnon (L, 2-4) 1 5 8 7 4 1

Bird 3 7 4 4 0 1

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Young (W, 6-1) 5 1 0 0 2 4

WP? Gagnon 2; T? 1:21; ATT? 105