BREWER – The ball had not left the infield, yet the Brewer High baseball team was poised for a big first inning, if only Kevin McAvoy could answer the call of the cleanup hitter.

The bases were loaded with no one out, thanks to a walk, a bunt single and a hit batsman.

Enter McAvoy, who would have no more of this small-ball stuff. The sophomore first baseman blasted the first pitch he saw into the left-center field gap for a bases-clearing triple, propelling Brewer to a 12-2 victory over Presque Isle in an Eastern Maine Class A preliminary game at Heddericg Field on Tuesday.

The game was halted in the bottom of the fifth inning under the 10-run rule.

Seventh-seeded Brewer (10-7) advances to a regional quarterfinal Thursday at No. 2 Cony of Augusta. Presque Isle, the No. 10 seed, finishes its final season in Class A with an 8-8 record.

McAvoy’s shot drove home table-setters Matt Sargent, J.T. Davis and Zac Bouzan-Kaloustian, setting in motion a seven-run first-inning uprising against Presque Isle right-hander R.J. Gagnon.

“I noticed he had been starting off with curveballs because that’s the pitch that was working for him early,” said McAvoy who went 3-for-4 with four RBIs. “I waited on the first pitch I got, it was a curve, and I just pulled it.”

Kevin Kotredes and Andrew Patterson similarly went first-ball hunting and were rewarded with RBI singles before Sargent capped off the inning with a two-run double to give the Witches a 7-1 lead.

“R.J. got the ball up a couple of times early, and when you get the ball up, it’s going to get hit,” said Presque Isle coach Tim Olore, whose Wildcats graduate just two seniors.

Protecting Brewer’s lead was left to Patterson, a junior right-hander who allowed only four hits while striking out six and walking three.

“To get those runs in the first inning just made things more relaxed out there, said Patterson, who threw 82 pitches in five innings. “I just went out and tried to throw strikes.”

Patterson also led Brewer’s 14-hit offense, going 4-for-4 with three stolen bases and two RBIs.

“Andy’s struggled at the plate at times,” said Brewer coach David Morris. “He’s got a good eye at the plate, he takes a lot of pitches. Our teaching to him has been about swinging the bat more, and he put the bat on the ball today.”

Presque Isle did take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first as Adam Swanson walked and later scored on a passed ball.

But Brewer had the quick counterstrike in the bottom of the inning, then extended the lead to 10-1 with three runs in the third. Josh Caldwell and Justin Hardy supplied RBI singles to key that rally.

Presque Isle reached Patterson for its second run in the fourth, as Matt Carvelle hit a leadoff double and scored on a ground single through the shortstop hole by Cole Putnam.

Brewer closed the game out an inning later. Bouzan-Kaloustian drew a leadoff walk and scored on a McAvoy single that would have been a triple except that he missed touching second base and was called out. But Caldwell drew a two-out walk and scored the game-ending run when Patterson doubled to right-center.

WITCHES 12, WILDCATS 2

Presque Isle (8-8) Brewer (10-7)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Swanson lf 2 1 1 0 Sargent cf 3 1 2

R.J.Gagnon p-2b 1 0 0 0 Davis ss 3 0

Parsons c 3 0 0 0 Bzn-Klstian 2b 2 2 0

Carvelle 3b 2 1 2 0 McAvoy 1b 4 2 4

K.Gagnon ss 2 0 0 0 Kotredes 3b 4 1 1

Putnam 1b 2 0 1 1 Caldwell c 2 3 1

Cole 1b 0 0 0 0 Patterson p 4 2 2

Mathers dh 2 0 0 0 Sutherland rf 2 0 0

Dickinson cf 0 0 0 0 a-Moreau 0 0 0

Lavway rf-p 1 0 0 0 Hardy lf 3 0 1

Lyford 2b 1 0 0 0

Michaud rf 1 0 0 0

Totals 17 2 4 1 Totals 27 12 14 11

a-walked for Sutherland in fourth inning.

Presque Isle 100 10?2

Brewer 703 02?12

E?Carvelle, Parsons; Bouzan-Kaloustian; LOB?Presque Isle 4, Brewer 8; 2B?Carvelle; Sargent, Patterson; 3B?McAvoy; DP?Brewer 1; S?R.J. Gagnon; SB?Patterson 3, Bouzan-Kaloustian, Caldwell

Presque Isle IP H R ER BB SO

R.J. Gagnon (L, 5-1) 2 10 10 7 2 0

Lavway 2 2/3 4 2 2 3 5

Brewer IP H R ER BB SO

Patterson (W, 4-1) 5 4 2 1 3 6

HBP?Caldwell by R.J. Gagnon, Bouzan-Kaloustian by R.J. Gagnon; PB?Caldwell; T?1:40; ATT?150