BANGOR – Anthony DeRosa was one of Eastern Maine’s top pitchers a year ago, and he’s picking up right where he left off.

The Bangor High right-hander hurled a one-hitter in the first start of his senior season Saturday as the Rams earned a 1-0 Class A baseball victory over Brewer at Mansfield Stadium.

DeRosa yielded only a hit-and-run single to Andrew Otis in the top of the third inning while striking out nine, walking three, and hitting a batter in a 95-pitch performance.

“He hadn’t had quite the command he had last year so far this year until today,” said Bangor coach Jeff Fahey. “He was around the plate, and really it’s as good an outing as he’s had in his career here. He was dominant last year at times, and he showed signs of that again today.”

DeRosa, who plans to attend Husson College in Bangor in the fall, allowed just one runner as far as third base.

“The mound was nice and hard today, so I had pretty good grip with my feet and I could throw the fastball pretty well, and my curveball was breaking for me,” he said.

Bangor needed a shutout performance from DeRosa to overcome a stout effort from Brewer’s Corey Cushing, who threw a 67-pitch four-hitter of his own.

“Corey since his sophomore year has been doing those kinds of things for us,” said Brewer coach David Morris. “He keeps us in games and keeps people off balance, and our defense played well behind him.”

The junior right-hander struck out just two, but walked no one and retired 11 of the last 12 batters he faced.

“I was just trying to hit my spots and let the defense do the job,” said Cushing.

DeRosa scored the game’s only run in the bottom of the third. He singled to right, moved to second on a sacrifice by Gordie Webb and scored when Aaron Gallant stroked a first-pitch single to right-center.

Brewer’s best scoring chance came in the top of the third when Brandon Hardy drew a leadoff walk and reached third with one out when Otis grounded an 0-1 pitch through the area vacated by Bangor second baseman Scott Hackett as Hardy was running on the pitch.

DeRosa escaped the jam by striking out Ricky Adams and getting Kevin McAvoy to ground out to Hackett.

The win was the second straight by shutout for Bangor, which opened its season with a 19-0 victory against Nokomis of Newport.

“That’s two games in a row without giving up a run and not making an error, and I think we’ve only given up two hits in two games,” said Fahey. “Pitching has not been our problem in the last five years. Defense hasn’t been, either, and although we didn’t have a lot of hits today, I like the way we swing the bats.”

Brewer also played errorless defense, but is now 0-2 after facing two of the better pitchers Maine high school baseball has to offer in DeRosa and Hampden Academy’s Pat Moran, who defeated the Witches 11-1 in their opener.

“Facing those two good pitchers right off the bat is going to help us later on,” said Morris. “We have a freshman at catcher, two sophomores in the middle infield, a sophomore at first base and the rest are seniors, so we really feel like facing good pitchers now will help us in the end.”

RAMS 1, WITCHES 0

Brewer (0-2) Bangor (1-0)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Otis, cf 3 0 1 0 Eremita, cf 3 0 0

Adams, ss 2 0 0 0 Heath, ss 3 0 0

McAvoy, 3b 3 0 0 0 B. Hackett, 3b 3 0 0

Grimes, lf 3 0 0 0 Anderson, 1b 2 0 0

Brown, 1b 3 0 0 0 S. Hackett, 2b 2 0 0

Cushing, p 3 0 0 0 Murphy, dh 2 0 0

Kotredes, c 2 0 0 0 Crews, rf 0 0 0

Sasaki, pr 0 0 0 0 DeRosa, p 2 1 0

Hardy, dh 1 0 0 0 Webb, c 1 0 0 0

McLaughlin, 2b 0 0 0 0 Aa. Gallant, rf 2 1

Davis, rf 2 0 0 0

Totals 22 0 1 0 Totals 20 1 4 1

Brewer 000 000 0 – 0

Bangor 001 000 0 – 1

LOB-Brewer 5, Bangor 2; DP-Davis to Brown; S-Webb; SB-Hardy; Aa. Gallant

Brewer IP H R ER BB SO

Cushing, (L, 0-2) 6 4 1 1 0 2

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

DeRosa (W, 1-0) 7 1 0 0 3 9

HBP-Hardy (by DeRosa); T-1:17; ATT-100