Hawks claim 1st regional title

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BANGOR – If the Hermon High School Hawks had any jitters playing in their first ever Eastern Maine Class B championship baseball game, they certainly didn’t show it.

Second seed Hermon erupted for 12 hits and eight runs in the first three innings and senior righthander Phil Cayford threw six innings of six-hit, three- run ball as the Hawks beat top seed Winslow 9-4 at blustery and steamy Mansfield Stadium Wednesday afternoon.

Hermon unleashed an 18-hit attack. Every starter had at least one hit. The Hawks have now scored 32 runs and collected 42 hits in three EM playoff games.

“There’s no doubt we’ve been rolling pretty hard the past couple of games. Everybody has been hitting the ball real well,” said senior second baseman Brett Danforth, who was one of five repeat hitters for the Hawks.

Danforth had a two-run triple in the four-run first inning and added a single in the sixth to give him eight post-season hits entering Saturday’s 11 a.m. championship game against the winner of Wednesday night’s Western B title game between Cape Elizabeth and Greely of Cumberland Center.

Billy Bart triggered the first-inning rally with a wind-aided triple that tailed away from right fielder Matt McLean.

Cayford notched the first of his four hits, an infield single off pitcher Eric Lopez’s glove, and Cory Archer grounded an RBI double over the third base bag off an 0-2 pitch.

Danforth followed with his long two-run triple over center fielder Ryan Lindie’s head.

“It was a 2-1 pitch and I expected a curve, especially to the middle of the order,” said Danforth. “But he threw me a fastball and I jumped on it. Luckily, it went where it did.”

Matt Joy lined a single past Lopez to deliver Danforth.

The Hawks made it 6-0 in the second when they received one-out singles from Dustin Jalbert, Nate Ellis and Bart to chase Lopez and Cayford greeted reliever Taylor Helberg with a two-run fly ball double to left center that evaded left fielder Ryan Lindie.

“I didn’t spot my fastball too well but they’re a great hitting team,” said Lopez.

“They hit the ball well. There wasn’t too much we could do about it,” said Winslow senior catcher Marty McCaslin.

Hermon, now 15-4, received run-scoring singles from Ellis and Cayford in the third to expand the lead to 8-0.

“We were on today. We saw the ball well and smoked it,” said sophomore right fielder Dustin Jalbert, who had three hits and an RBI from the ninth spot in the order.

Cayford, meanwhile, struck out seven and walked three over six innings. He threw 99 pitches of which 56 were strikes.

“I had a good fastball today,” said Cayford. “This was one of my best games of the year.”

“He just threw strikes and let his defense do the work. That’s what needs to be done. He did a good job throwing the ball today,” said Lopez.

Besides Cayford, Jalbert and Bart, who combined for 10 hits, Ellis joined Danforth with two hits apiece.

“As a former pitcher, I wouldn’t want to face our order,” said fourth-year Hermon coach Mark Farnham. “We’ve hit the ball very well all year.”

Lopez had three singles for 15-4 Winslow, Brian Mannke had two singles and an RBI and freshman Steven Siviski had a pinch-hit two-run double in the sixth.

HAWKS 9, BLACK RAIDERS 4

Hermon (15-4) Winslow (15-4)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Ellis, cf 5 1 2 1 Lopez, p-ss 4 1 0

Bart, ss-p 5 1 3 0 McLean, rf 1 1 0

Cayford, p-ss 5 1 4 3 McCaslin, c 4 0

Archer, 1b 3 1 1 1 Helberg, ss-p 4 0 0

Danforth, 2b 4 1 2 2 Mannke, dh 4 1 1

Joy, dh 3 1 1 1 LaPointe, lf 0 0 0

Shorey, 3b 1 0 0 0 Martin, 1b 4 1 0

McGinley, c 4 0 1 0 B. McCabe, 3b 2 0 0

Wilder, lf 3 1 1 0 R. Lindie, cf 2 0 0

Jalbert, rf 4 2 3 1 Siviski, ph 1 0 2

Curtis, pr 0 0 0 0 J. Lindie, 2b 2 0 0

K. McCabe, ph 1 0 0 Lee, 2b 0 0 0 0

Totals 37 9 18 9 Totals 29 4 9 3

Hermon 422 100 0 ? 9

Winslow 001 002 1 ? 4

E?Cayford, Martin; LOB?Hermon 12, Winslow 8; 2B?Cayford, Archer; Helberg, Siviski; 3B?Bart, Danforth

Hermon IP H R ER BB SO

Cayford (W, 5-0) 6 6 3 2 3 7

Bart 1 3 1 1 1 1

Winslow IP H R ER BB SO

Lopez (L, 4-4) 1 1/3 8 6 6 0 2

Helberg 5 2/3 10 3 2 2 7

HBP?Wilder (by Helberg); WP?Bart, Helberg 2, PB?McGinley; T?2:20; ATT?450 (est.)