Brewer captures Zone 1 title Midcoast up next at state tournament

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BANGOR – A year ago, the Brewer Falcons were the region’s dominant force in American Legion baseball during the regular season, but couldn’t back it up once the Zone 1 tournament arrived.

This year, they left no doubt about their superiority within the zone.

Brewer turned back Calais 11-1 at Mansfield Stadium on Sunday to complete an emphatic run to the Zone 1 tournament championship and a berth in the state tournament.

How emphatic? Consider the following:

. The top-seeded Falcons, unbeaten in the double-elimination tournament and now 25-1 overall, outscored four opponents by a combined 43-9.

. Only once was Brewer required to play a full nine-inning game. In their other three contests, including Sunday, the Falcons ended the game in seven innings via the 10-run rule.

. In 30 innings of zone tournament play, Brewer never trailed.

“We knew what had to do,” said Brewer second baseman Zac Boustan-Kaloustian. “Our pitching was strong; we had four solid starting performances. We hit the ball, put it in play and got the job done.”

The Falcons were led throughout the tourney by Zone 1 Player of the Year Jason Harvey. The shortstop from Bucksport had three RBIs against Calais, and finished the tournament 8-for-12 with six walks and 14 RBIs.

“Our main thing coming into the tournament was to get the bats going early and keep hitting the ball like we can,” said Harvey. “The pitchers did the job all through the tournament. They threw ground balls and popups, and no team really hit us hard. The pitching was excellent, and our hitting definitely came through.”

Brewer will play at 10 a.m. Saturday in the opening game of the state tournament in Augusta against Zone 3 runner-up Midcoast (17-5-1), a team representing the Bath-Brunswick-Topsham area.

Calais, which won three straight elimination games after losing to Brewer 14-2 in its tourney opener to reach Sunday’s championship round, will face Zone 3 champion Bessey Motors of South Paris, a team made up of Oxford Hills High School players, at 4 p.m. Saturday.

After scoring eight runs in the top of the ninth inning late Saturday night to eliminate Trenton 16-8 and clinch its berth in the state tournament, the sixth-seeded Suns (14-13) had little energy left Sunday.

“We just ran out of pitching,” said Calais coach Ken Macdonald. “Our kids gave everything they had Saturday to get us to the state tournament.”

The Falcons struck quickly, scoring once in each of the first two innings and amassing six runs on three hits and three Calais errors in the bottom of the third for an 8-0 lead.

That was plenty of support for Brewer lefthander Chad Gomm, who allowed three hits and one run over six innings to earn the pitching win. Adam Sheehan worked a hitless seventh inning for the Falcons.

Brewer scored in every inning but the fifth, and ended the game with one out in the seventh when Nye Gifford doubled to left and scored on a single to left by Joe Robichaud to produce the 10-run lead.

Kyle Dalton added a pair of triples and two RBIs to Brewer’s eight-hit attack, while Jake Knight, Bouzan-Kaloustian and Harvey – the top three hitters in the Falcons’ lineup – each scored two runs.

Calais scored its only run in the fifth inning when Chris Dyer singled, advanced to third on a pair of groundouts and scored on a single to left by Steve Colbeth.

FALCONS 11, SUNS 1

(Sunday Afternoon)

Calais (14-13) Brewer (25-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Ja. Ramsdell, c-rf 3 0 0 0 Knight, cf 2 0

J. Macdonald, ss 2 0 0 0 Davis, cf 1 0

Francis, 3b 3 0 1 0 Bzn-Kaloustn, 2b 3 0

Pike, p-c 3 0 0 0 Harvey, ss 1 2 3

Dyer, 2b 3 1 1 0 Dalton, 1b 4 1 2

D.Maloney, 1b-p 3 0 0 0 McAvoy, rf 3 0

Constant, cf 3 0 0 0 Sheehan, cf-p 3 1 0

Luddington, rf 1 0 0 0 Gifford, dh-lf 4 1

Colbeth, lf 1 0 1 1 Boober, c 2 0 1

Je. Ramsdell, lf 1 0 0 0 Robichaud, c 1 1

Footer, 1b 1 0 0 0 Mercer, lf 1 0 0

Kotredes, lf-3b 1 0 0 0

Totals 24 1 3 1 Totals 26 11 8 8

Calais 000 000 1 ? 1

Brewer 116 101 1 ? 11

E?Luddington, Jeff Ramsdell, James Ramsdell, Pike; Harvey; LOB?Calais 4, Brewer 5; 2B?Gifford; 3B?Dalton 2, Bouzan-Kaloustian; DP?Dalton to Harvey to Dalton, Bouzan-Kaloustian to Harvey to Dalton; SF?Harvey 2, Boober; SB?Dyer; Sheehan 2, Gifford 2, Knight, Mercer, Harvey

Calais IP H R ER BB SO

Pike (L, 0-1) 3 4 9 4 4 0

D. Maloney 3 1/3 4 2 2 2 1

Brewer IP H R ER BB SO

Gomm (W, 5-0) 6 3 1 1 1 5

Sheehan 1 0 0 0 0 0

Two outs in 7th when 10-run rule instituted.

WP?Pike, Sheehan; BK?Pike; T?1:46; ATT?175 (est.)