Henry sparks Eagles

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GUILFORD – Collin Henry’s varsity pitching debut was marked by a veteran’s efficiency.

The sophomore lefthander struck out 17 and walked only two Friday while leading reigning state Class C baseball champion George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill to a 7-0 victory over host Piscataquis Community High.

Henry threw just 98 pitches – 71 for strikes – during his complete-game six-hitter and got stronger as the game progressed. He struck out the last six batters he faced.

“He was hitting his spots for the most part, and his curveball was breaking as well as I’ve seen it break before,” said GSA catcher Harrison Hines.

Henry induced seven called third strikes, often with backdoor breaking pitches that started outside the strike zone but caught the corner as they crossed the plate, fooling a PCHS lineup that included only three seniors.

“Those guys are young, so I was just trying to throw strikes,” Henry said. “I had the breaking ball working today, and I tried to get ahead of the hitters so I could use that to my advantage.”

Henry was backed by a 13-hit offense, with each of the first five batters in the GSA lineup getting at least two hits. Hines went 3-for-4 for coach Dan Kane’s club, while Blake Wessel, Dan Hilts, Adam Cousins, and Henry each had two hits. Wessel’s double in the fifth inning and Cousins’ leadoff triple in the seventh were the game’s only extra-base hits.

Yet PCHS stayed close for much of the game thanks to some solid work from its own first-time varsity pitcher, freshman righthander Roy Burdin. Burdin allowed a pair of unearned runs in the top of the first inning, then held GSA scoreless until the fifth when he left the mound after hitting Sam Bridges with a pitch and yielding Wessel’s opposite-field double down the right-field line.

GSA scored once in that inning to extend its lead to 3-0, then added three more runs in the sixth and one in the seventh off reliever Josh Luellen.

For the Eagles, this was a strong bounce-back victory after opening the defense of their title with a one-run loss to Stearns of Millinocket earlier in the week.

“We played well against Stearns; they just had a lot of good hits,” Henry said. “We had to bounce back against these guys and get back on track.”

PCHS, facing a rough opening-week schedule that found the Pirates one day removed from a 6-2 loss to 2003 Eastern Maine Class B finalist Foxcroft Academy of Dover-Foxcroft, reached Henry for one hit in each of the first six innings. But with Henry making few pitching mistakes and GSA playing errorless defense, coach Chad Graffam’s club was unable to put more than two runners on base in any inning.

Sophomore catcher Joe Jardine went 3-for-3 for the 0-2 Pirates, while Burdin added two singles.

EAGLES 7, PIRATES 0

George Stevens (1-1) Piscataquis (0-2)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Wessel, ss 4 1 2 0 Boillard, 2b 1 0 0

Hilts, lf 4 2 2 1 c-Sudsbury 1 0 0

Cousins, 2b 4 1 2 1 Jardine, c 3 0 0

Henry, p 3 1 2 1 Luellen, cf-p 2 0 0

Hines, c 4 1 3 0 Burnett, ss 3 0 0

Gallagher, 3b 4 0 0 0 Artman, 3b 3 0

Peake, cf 2 1 1 1 Burdin, p-lf 3 0 0

Gale, rf 3 0 0 0 Clukey, rf 3 0 0

Bridges, dh 2 0 1 1 Ring, lf-cf 2 0 0

Wardwell, 1b 0 0 0 0 a-Martell 1 0 0

Johnston, dh 2 0 0 0

b-Douglass 1 0 0 0

Zimmerman, 1b 0 0 0 0

Totals 30 7 13 5 Totals 25 0 6 0

a-struck out for Ring in 7th; b-struck out for Johnston in 7th; c-struck out for Boillard in 7th

George Stevens 200 013 1 ? 7

Piscataquis 000 000 0 ? 0

E?Burdin, Jardine; LOB?GSA 5, Piscataquis 7; 2B?Wessel; 3B?Cousins; DP?Wessel-Cousins; Burnett-Boillard, Luellen-Boillard-Artman, Luellen-Burnett-Zimmerman; SF?Henry; SB?Wessel 2, Peake 2, Hines

George Stevens IP H R ER BB SO

Henry (W,1-0) 7 6 0 0 2 17

Piscataquis IP H R ER BB SO

Burdin (L,0-1) 4 5 3 1 1 1

Luellen 3 8 4 2 0 0

HBP?Bridges by Burdin; WP?Henry; Burdin 2, Luellen 4; PB?Jardine; T?1:50; ATT?75