Trenton pounds Penquis

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BANGOR – Trenton Acadian righthander Travis Tripp said his team wanted to “send a message” to the rest of Zone 1 after they didn’t have a player chosen to the All-Zone 1 first team.

“We wanted to show people we’re here to play,” said Tripp after firing an impressive five-hitter, striking out seven and not walking anybody, to lead the Acadians past Penquis 9-2 in their Zone 1 Tournament opener Thursday night at Mansfield Stadium.

The 16-7 Acadians will now face 14-9 Lincoln on Friday at 8 p.m. Penquis, 13-10, will take on 22-1 Brewer in the 4 p.m. game.

The Acadians wasted little time getting their message across, scoring four runs in the first inning after the first two hitters were retired.

Mark Clapp grounded a single to left to start the rally and Adam Cousins lined a single to left just over the glove of leaping shortstop Adam Russell.

Chris Sargent then ripped a rising liner that sailed over the head of left fielder Seth Strout for a two-run double.

“He [Penquis lefty Josh Withee] was throwing a lot of fastballs, too many,” said Sargent. “I hit a high fastball. I love high pitches.”

Sargent, who re-aggravated a hamstring pull and left after the inning, went to third after a walk and a Dustin Young single and Chris Candage lined a two-run single to left.

Run-scoring singles by Garrett Hardison and Clapp extended the lead to 6-0 in the fifth.

Penquis scored its two runs in the sixth on Adam Russell’s two-run infield single but Trenton answered with three in the bottom of the sixth on run-scoring singles by Dustin Young and Hardison, which sandwiched a run-producing throwing error by shortstop Russell.

Tripp, who was 2-1 with two saves and a 5.46 earned run average for Bangor’s Husson College this past spring, mixed his fastball, slider and curve effectively and threw 72 strikes among his 101 pitches.

“That’s the best I’ve thrown all summer,” said Tripp, who improved to 5-2 this summer. “All of my pitches were working and my location was surprisingly good.”

Hardison, Clapp, Cousins, Tony Conroy, Young and Candage had two hits each for Trenton while Caleb Pelletier had two hits for Penquis.

ACADIANS 9, NAVIGATORS 2

Penquis (13-10) Trenton (16-7)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Weymouth, cf-rf 4 0 1 0 Hardison, dh 5 2

Day, 2b 4 1 0 0 Henry, cf 4 0 0

Withee, p-cf 4 1 1 0 Clapp, ss 5 1 1

Gray, 1b 4 0 0 0 Cousins, 2b 4 1 0

Russell, ss 3 0 1 2 Sargent, 3b 1 1 2

Morrison, 3b 4 0 0 0 Freedman, 1b 3 0 0

Kane, c 3 0 0 0 Conroy, rf 4 2 0

C. Pelletier, rf-2b 3 0 2 0 Young, 1b-3b 4 1

Strout, lf 3 0 0 0 Candage, c 5 0 2

Rush, lf 0 0 0 0 Astbury, lf 3 2 0

Totals 32 2 5 2 Totals 38 9 13 8

Penquis 000 002 000 ? 2

Trenton 400 023 00x ? 9

E? Tripp, Cousins, Kane; Russell; LOB? Penquis 4; 2B? Sargent; 3B? Weymouth; SB? Withee 2, Pelletier 2, Day; Hardison 2, Clapp, Young

Penquis IP H R ER BB SO

Withee (L, 2-4) 5 1/3 10 7 6 6 9

Day 2/3 2 2 0 0 1

Freeman 2 1 0 0 1 1

Home IP H R ER BB SO

Tripp (W, 5-2) 9 5 2 2 0 7

HBP? Hardison by Freeman; WP? Withee 2, Day; PB? Kane; T? 2:25; ATT? 100 (est.)