Pitching powers Trenton, Bangor in split

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ELLSWORTH – With a week and a half to go before the end of the American Legion baseball regular season, Saturday’s doubleheader between Bangor and Trenton wasn’t crucial, but it could have served as a springboard into the playoffs.

A sweep certainly would have given one team a big boost, but it wasn’t in the cards as the host Acadians answered a solid pitching effort by Bangor’s Josh Young in the first game with one of their own from Chris Sargent in the second. The end result was a 9-3 Bangor victory in the first game and an 11-3 Trenton win in the second.

In the second game, Sargent was in almost complete control on the mound as he threw strikes, got ahead in the counts early, and made the visiting Comrades hit his pitches.

“He went right at them. And we thought he really looked real strong in those last three innings,” said coach Bunky Dow, whose Acadians are now 10-7. “I think he was tired at the start of the season after pitching so much for George Stevens [Academy] so we held him back a little. But right now, he threw as good a game as I’ve seen this year.”

The righthander from Blue Hill looked anything but tired as he scattered seven hits over seven innings while striking out five batters and walking none.

It helped that Sargent and his teammates were much more productive at the plate the second time around. Trenton jumped on Bangor for three runs on four hits in the first inning, four in the second, and four more in the fourth.

Second baseman Brandon Colbeth led the charge with a triple, a single, three RBIs, and three runs in three at-bats. Sargent drove in two runs.

“It helped that we were able to get things going with our bats early too. From the very beginning, I felt great. Everything felt great,” said Sargent, now 3-1. “My fastball had a little more jump and my curveball really dropped in for strikes. I’ve only pitched three or four games, so I’m feeling pretty strong now.”

Sargent finished with a fairly economical total of 91 pitches, 60 of which were strikes.

“The thing he did was put the ball in the strike zone and let his defense do the work,” said Bangor coach Jay Kemble. “They played some great defense, too. The first game, they struggled defensively. The second game, we struggled.”In the first game, Bangor’s Young got off to a shaky start by yielding two runs on three hits in the first and another run in the second on a leadoff walk, a hit, and an error, but settled down and allowed one hit over the next four innings for his third win in five decisions.

“Josh did a nice job, as he usually does,” said Kemble. “Our pitching’s pretty solid and the offense is consistent, but defense is a concern and you can’t give teams extra outs.”

The 12-5 Comrades did that just once in the first game, but committed five errors in the second game for seven unearned runs. Trenton had seven miscues in the first for three.

Young gave up five hits with five walks and struck out five. First baseman Zev Myerowitz led Bangor’s offense with two singles and two RBIs.

The key inning was the third, when Bangor scored three runs – all unearned – on no hits and three Trenton errors.

The Comrades iced it with a three-run sixth in which they had five hits – all singles.

COMRADES 9, ACADIANS 3

(Saturday’s First Game)

Bangor Trenton

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Hall, ss 5 0 1 1 Clapp, ss 3 0 0

Proctor, rf 5 0 0 0 Hardison, ss 1 0 0

Tremble, 3b 4 2 1 0 Greenleaf, c 3 1 0

Sullivan, lf 3 2 1 0 Sargent, 3b 3 1 0

Myerowitz, 1b 4 1 2 2 Freedman, 3b 0 0

Worster, c 4 2 1 1 Hutchins, dh-1b 3 0 0

Murphy, dh 3 1 1 1 Alley, cf 2 0 2

Dennis, 2b 2 0 1 1 Lowell, lf 3 0 0

Chapman, 2b 1 1 0 0 Colbeth, 2b 0 1 0

Jellison, 3b 2 0 0 0 Dow, 1b-rf 3 0 0

Young, rf-1b 3 0 1 0

Totals 33 9 8 6 Totals 24 3 5 2

Bangor 023 013 0 – 9

Trenton 210 000 0 – 3

E- Hall, Sullivan; Hardison, Sargent 2, Freedman, Colbeth, Dow, Young; LOB- Bangor 11; Trenton 5; DP- Hall-Dennis-Myerowitz; Clapp-Colbeth-Hutchins; SF- Myerowitz; SB- Myerowitz, Worster; Alley, Colbeth

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Young (W, 3-2) 6 5 3 2 5 5

Nason 1 0 0 0 0 0

Home IP H R ER BB SO

Tripp (L, 1-4) 5 1/3 6 9 6 7 5

Young 1 2/3 2 0 0 0 0

WP- Tripp 3; T- 1:58; ATT- 49

ACADIANS 10, COMRADES 3

(Saturday’s Second Game)

Bangor (12-5) Trenton (10-7)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Hall, ss 3 0 1 1 Clapp, ss 4 2 0

Chapman, 2b 3 0 1 1 Hardison, rf 2 1 0

Tremble, 3b 3 1 2 0 Sargent, p 4 2 2

Sullivan, rf 3 0 0 1 Alley, cf 4 1 1

Myerowitz, 1b 3 0 0 0 Colbeth, 2b 3 3

Cayford, dh-p 3 0 1 0 Lowell, lf 3 1

Treadwell, lf 3 0 1 0 Hutchins, 1b 4 1

Dowe, c 3 1 0 0 Freedman, 3b 3 0 1

Jellison, cf 2 1 1 0 Young, 3b 1 0 0

a-Murphy 1 0 0 0 Greenleaf, c 4 1 0

Totals 27 3 7 3 Totals 36 11 10 9

Bangor 002 001 0 – 3

Trenton 340 401 x – 10

a-flied out for Jellison in seventh

E- Chapman, Tremble 2, Myerowitz, Nason; Freedman, Young; LOB- Bangor 3; Trenton 6; 2B- Chapman, Tremble; Clapp; 3B- Colbeth, Lowell; DP- Colbeth-Clapp-Hutchins, Lowell-Greenleaf, Clapp-Hutchins-Young; S- Hardison; SB- Tremble; Hardison, Colbeth

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Heath (L, 3-1) 3 1/3 9 11 5 2 3

Nason 1 2/3 1 0 0 0 0

Cayford 1 0 1 0 1 3

Trenton IP H R ER BB SO

Sargent (W, 3-1) 7 7 3 2 0 5

WP- Heath 2, Cayford; Sargent; T- 1:38; ATT- 54