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BANGOR – Josh Young wasn’t feeling that great on the mound Wednesday afternoon.
Even so, Bangor High School’s ace righthander continued his domination of opposing hitters.
Young allowed only three hits and pitched out of some early jams to spearhead top-seeded Bangor to a 3-0 Eastern Maine Class A baseball quarterfinal victory over No. 9 Messalonskee of Oakland at sunny Mansfield Stadium.
Coach Jeff Fahey’s 15-2 Rams play host Saturday to the winner of Thursday’s quarterfinal between No. 4 Mount Ararat of Topsham and No. 5 Skowhegan.
Young, a hard-throwing junior, struck out six and walked three. He improved to 6-0 and lowered his earned run average to an incredible 0.23.
“Pitchers have their ‘on’ days and their ‘off’ days and I had an ‘off’ day, but I knew I was all set because my defense could hold it together for me,” Young said.
The Rams, who got their ninth shutout, know with Young pitching they’re in good shape.
“Once we know Josh Young’s on the mound, there’s not much you can say,” said Bangor’s Andy Treadwell. “You know there’s not going to be hardly any errors, he’ll shut them down, and hopefully we’ll get some key hits.”
Bangor scratched out only four hits against Messalonskee’s Randon Baker, who was a last-second replacement. The senior was summoned in the bottom of the first inning after the umpires informed Eagles coach Jon Moody that Justin Parker, who was warming up, was ineligible to pitch.
Parker had thrown three innings Tuesday, rendering him unavailable under Maine Principals Association rules. Moody, who had checked with an administrator and an umpire, said they misinterpreted the language of the rule as pertains to a playoff game for which the date is changed.
Baker struck out three, but was stung by two of his five walks, one of two hit batsmen, and one of three Eagle errors.
Bangor scored the only runs it would need in the second when Nick Larochelle and P.J. Dowe walked and Treadwell lashed an RBI single past third. The second run scored when Mike Larochelle hit into a 4-6 fielder’s choice and the relay throw sailed over first base.
The Rams tallied in the third on a hit batsman, a two-out infield single by Young, and consecutive walks to Nick Larochelle and Dowe.
Bangor stranded eight runners, leaving the bases loaded twice.
“We just don’t score a lot of runs, but we get enough runs to get the lead and stay ahead most times,” Fahey said. “We played a lot of one-run, two-run games, so this was nothing new for us.”
Messalonskee (8-10) threatened in the first three innings, but could not score. The Eagles had runners at the corners in the first, but Young registered a strikeout to escape.
In the second, Young picked Jared Anicetti off second base for a key out. In the third, Messalonskee stranded runners at second and third.
“A couple of them were my fault, walked guys, and I couldn’t let the team down by letting those guys score,” Young said.
RAMS 3, EAGLES 0
Messalonskee (8-10) Bangor (15-2)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
Baker, p 2 0 0 0 Hall, rf 3 1 0
Blake, lf 3 0 0 0 Jor. Heath, ss 3 0 0
Parker, cf 3 0 2 0 Hackett, 3b 3 0 0
Workman, cf 0 0 0 0 Young, p 3 0 0
Gilbert, c 2 0 0 0 N. Larochelle,2b 1 0
Shieve, 1b 3 0 0 0 Dowe, c 1 1 0 1
Wrigley, 3b 3 0 1 0 Treadwell, lf 3 0 1
Anicetti, ss 3 0 0 0 M. Larochelle,1b 2 0
Pierce, 2b 2 0 0 0 a-Murphy 1 0 0
Hross, dh 2 0 0 0 b-Worster 0 0 0
Groder, rf 0 0 0 0 Prentiss, cf 2 0 0
Totals 23 0 3 0 Totals 22 3 4 2
a-singled for M. Larochelle in 6th; b-ran for Murphy in 6th
Messalonskee 000 000 0 ? 0
Bangor 021 000 x ? 3
E?Anicetti, Wrigley 2; Dowe; LOB?Messalonskee 5; Bangor 8; SB?Parker 2, Anicetti
Messalonskee IP H R ER BB SO
Baker (L,0-2) 6 4 3 2 5 3
Bangor IP H R ER BB SO
Young (W,6-0) 7 3 0 0 3 6
HBP?Hall, Heath by Baker; T?1:41; ATT?250 (est.)
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