Brewer to battle Bangor for berth in state tournament today

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BANGOR – Rivals Brewer and Bangor will battle at noon today to clinch a berth in the state American Legion baseball tourney after both clubs recorded victories in the winners’ bracket during the Zone 1 tourney Friday at Mansfield Stadium.

Brewer eliminated Trenton 4-2 and Bangor beat Waldo-Knox 5-1 to force the Wildcats into an elimination game against Penquis at 4 p.m. today. The Penquis Navigators stayed alive in the second day of the tourney by eliminating the Lincoln Lumber 6-4.

The winner of the Penquis-Waldo game will battle the Brewer-Bangor loser in an elimination game at 8 tonight with the championship round to begin at 4 p.m. Sunday.

The first- and second-place teams from the Zone 1 tourney advance to the state finals.

In the first game, Adam Russell of Penquis hit a two-run triple with one out in the eighth to give Penquis the lead for good, then James Gray retired Lincoln in order in ninth to preserve the win.

“That was definitely a team effort,” Penquis coach Rob St. Louis said.

The game was delayed by 21/2 hours due to a malfunction in the sprinkler system.

Darin Spack started the winning rally with a double to center off Lincoln starter Matt Malone. Spack advanced to third on Joey Kane’s single to right and Kane stole second base as a hot-hitting Russell batted.

“Adam, the last three or four games, has been hitting about .452,” St. Louis said. “He’s a pretty good control hitter. I thought about squeezing [home the runner from third], but we couldn’t hold a one-run lead. I let him go ahead and hit.”

Russell rewarded his coach’s confidence when he lined a 1-1 pitch from Malone (1-4) to right center with what proved to be the game-winning hit. He also singled and finished with two RBIs to lead Penquis to its first postseason victory in the eight-year history of the team.

Penquis held a 3-0 lead after two innings, but Lincoln twice cut the lead to one (3-2 after 41/2 innings and 4-3 after 51/2 innings) before tying the game at 4-4 in the seventh.

Malone doubled to left to lead off the inning, then scored on Jeremy Ham’s triple to right off Penquis starter Spack.

Tom Lasko greeted Gray with deep fly ball to right. Instead of Ham tagging up and scoring, though, Lincoln coach Greg Reed said he told Ham that the ball might go over the head of Penquis center fielder Jason Weymouth. Weymouth caught the ball, but Ham was unable to tag up and score on the play.

Gray then retired Matt Leino and Andrew Kites to end the threat and preserve the lead.

“I took a stupid pill on that play,” Lincoln coach Greg Reed said.

Tyler Gardner also doubled for Lincoln.

“They came back and played with some integrity,” Reed said. “They could have folded up when we were behind 3-0.”

In the second game, righthanders Andy Wentworth and Adam Sheehan pitched the Brewer Falcons past the Trenton Acadians, allowing one earned run through nine innings.

Wentworth struck out three through eight innings before he handed the ball over to Sheehan in the top of the ninth. Sheehan struck out the first batter he faced on three pitches, allowed two walks, and then struck out the following two batters to seal the win.

“Having some runs on the board early just kind of let me relax,” Wentworth said.

Jason Harvey started the scoring for Brewer with his only hit of the game, a triple to left field, in the bottom of the first to score Sheehan from first base. Sheehan had reached on a leadoff walk. Two batters later Abram Allard plated Harvey for Brewer’s second run of the inning with an infield single.

B.J. Greenleaf scored Trenton’s only earned run of the game from third base on a fielder’s choice grounder by Mark Clapp to shortstop Harvey to cut the Acadians’ deficit to one run. Greenleaf had reached first on one of Wentworth’s two walks and moved to second when Garrett Hardison walked. The pair moved up on a passed ball.

The Falcons scored what proved to be the game-winning run in the fourth on a fielder’s choice groundout by designated hitter Brian Sullivan to score Allard. Allard had reached first on a single to center and moved into scoring position on a hit-and-run single by designated hitter Kyle Dalton.

Allard led all hitters, finishing 3-for-3 with a walk and one RBI.

Brewer added an insurance run in the next inning on first baseman Joel Barrett’s second single, a line drive to center field. Sheehan, who had reached second on a walk and stolen second base, scored on the hit.

Trenton added a run in the seventh inning on a double by Clapp for his second hit and RBI, but was unable to put another on the board as Wentworth and Sheehan held the Acadians hitless for the final two innings.

“Brewer can hurt you batters one though nine and their defense is real strong,” Trenton coach Bunky Dow said. “We couldn’t get that big hit when we needed it and they did.”

In the third game, Bangor did the little things well in order to defeat Waldo-Knox and earn a chance to meet Brewer for the third time this season.

“We really came to play today,” Bangor coach Jay Kemble said. “As coach [John] Winkin said in the locker room, we did all the little things we needed to do. to win.”

One example was shortstop Nate Hall, who successfully bunted in the second and sixth innings to move a baserunner into scoring position.

Each time, Tyler Jellison drove in a run after Hall’s bunt – a sacrifice fly to score Zev Myerowitz in the second and a single to center in the sixth to plate Brian Worster.

The Comrades also received timely hitting, including a two-run single from Andy Sullivan in the fifth to give Bangor a 4-1 lead.

“On those things, the guys came through when we needed,” Kemble said.

The offensive support was more than enough for Bill Chapman, who scattered six hits over nine innings, walking just one and striking out 12.

“He pitched well tonight,” Kemble said. “He was really getting his curveball over. He was always ahead in the count.”

Brian Worster singled twice and drove in a run for the 17-7 Comrades.

“We haven’t used up a lot of pitching,” Kemble said. “That’s a big plus. We’ve got some depth to go to.”

Chris Carman singled twice for Waldo-Knox, including a run-scoring single in the third to tie the game at 1-1. John Bonney added two singles.

“We didn’t hit the ball really well today,” Waldo-Knox coach Emery Shute said.

Although the route to a state tournament berth is now longer for the Wildcats, Shute said his team is still in good spirits.

“We’ll bounce back tomorrow,” he said. “We don’t try to get ahead of ourselves. The kids didn’t get too down [tonight].”

BDN reporter Derek Breton contributed to this story.

Comrades 5, Wildcats 1

(Friday’s Third Game)

Waldo-Knox (15-9) Bangor (17-7)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Bonney, ss 4 0 2 0 Cayford, ss 4 1 0

Carman, cf 3 0 2 1 Proctor, rf 4 1 0

Grove, p-3b 4 0 0 0 Tremble, 3b 3 0 0

Dennen,1b 4 0 0 0 Sullivan, dh 5 0 2

Potvin, c 3 0 1 0 Treadwell, lf 4 1 0

Arthers, lf 3 0 0 0 Myerowitz, 1b 2 1 0

a-Colby 1 0 0 0 Worster, c 4 1 1

Cowan, 3b-p 4 0 0 0 Hall, 2b 2 0 0

Tootill, rf 4 0 0 0 Jellison, cf 2 0 2

Gray,2b 3 1 1 0

Totals 33 1 6 1 Totals 30 5 9 5

a-struck out for Arthers in the 9th

Waldo-Knox 001 000 000 ? 1

Bangor 010 121 000 ? 5

E?Bonney; Tremble; LOB?Waldo-Knox 7, Bangor 11; 2B?Bonney, Gray; Sullivan, Treadwell; DP?Gray- Dennen; S?Hall 2; SF?Jellison

Waldo-Knox IP H R ER BB SO

Grove (L, 2-1) 7 9 5 4 4 3

Cowan 1 0 0 0 3 0

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Chapman (W) 9 6 1 1 1 12

HBP?Potvin by Chapman; T?1:56; ATT?150 (est.)

NAVIGATORS 6, LUMBER 4

(Friday’s First Game)

Lincoln (10-14) Penquis (11-13)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Flannery, 3b 5 0 1 0 Russell, ss 4 1 2

Cousineau, ss 3 0 0 0 Morrison, 3b 4 0

Malone, p 4 2 1 0 Gray, 2b-p 5 0 0

Ham, cf 4 0 1 2 Gabbaro, 1b 4 1 1

Lasko, 1b 4 0 1 1 White, rf 4 0 1

Whitney, 3b 3 0 0 0 Weymouth, cf 3 0 0

Leino, 3b 2 0 0 0 Strout, lf 4 1 0

Kites, rf 3 1 0 0 Spack, p-c 3 1 0

Gardner, lf 3 0 1 0 Kane, c-2b 4 1 0

Woodman, c 2 1 0 0

Totals 33 4 5 3 Totals 35 6 9 4

Lincoln 000 111 100 ? 4

Penquis 210 010 02x ? 6

E ? Malone 2, Flannery, Whitney; Russell, Morrison; LOB ? Lincoln 11, Penquis 9; 2B ? Malone, Gardner; Gray, Spack; 3B ? Ham; Russell; DP ? Kites to Woodman; Russell to Gray to Gabbaro; SB ? Flannery, Cousineau, Kites; Morrison, White, Weymouth, Strout, Spack, Kane

Lincoln IP H R ER BB SO

Malone (L, 1-4) 8 9 6 5 3 5

Penquis IP H R ER BB SO

Spack 6* 5 4 2 6 2

Gray (W) 3 0 0 0 2 3

*Pitched to two batters in the seventh

HBP?Lasko by Spack; BK?Malone; T?2:06; ATT?100 (est).

Falcons 4, Acadians 2

(Friday’s Second Game)

Trenton (14-10) Brewer (23-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Clapp, ss 4 0 2 2 Sheehan, 3b-p 2 2 0

Smith, dh 4 0 0 0 Harvey,ss 4 1 1

Sargent, 3b 4 0 1 0 Barrett, 1b 4 0 1

Colbeth, 2b 4 0 1 0 Allard, 2b 3 1 1

Lowell, lf 3 0 0 0 Dalton, lf 4 0 0

Alley, 1b 3 0 0 0 Sullivan, dh 4 0 1

Greenleaf, c 2 2 0 0 Bzn-Kaloustn, 3b 0 0

Young, cf 4 0 0 0 Sutherland, rf 3 0 0

Hardison, rf 3 0 0 0 McHale, c 2 0 0

Mercer, cf 4 0 0 0

Totals 35 2 4 2 Totals 30 4 7 4

Trenton 001 000 100 ? 2

Brewer 200 110 000 ? 4

E?Harvey; LOB?Trenton 8, Brewer 7; 2B?Colbeth; 3B?Harvey; SB?Clapp 2, Greenleaf, Hardison; Sheehan, Allard

Trenton IP H R ER BB SO

Tripp (L) 8 7 4 4 4 8

Brewer IP H R ER BB SO

Wentworth (W) 8 4 2 1 2 3

Sheehan 1 0 0 0 2 3

HBP?Lowell (by Wentworth);McHale (by Tripp); WP?Tripp; Wentworth; PB?Greenleaf 3; McHale 3; T?2:00; ATT?215