BUCKSPORT – Patience at the plate produced immediate results for the Brewer baseball team Thursday, as the Class A Witches struck for a pair of four-run rallies in the first two innings and went on to a 15-4 victory over Class B Bucksport.

The win was Brewer’s third straight since an 0-2 start, and marked the Witches deepest offensive performance of the season. Eight different players scored runs in the six-inning game, and seven contributed to Brewer’s 14-hit attack.

The Witches also drew 12 walks off Bucksport pitchers Joey Robicheau and Teddy Cooke. While only three of those runners scored, the pressure they put on the Golden Bucks helped fuel three different innings in which Brewer batted around the order.

“Today we exerted a lot of patience and waited for that strike,” said Brewer coach David Morris. “Joey was having a tough time, but credit to our kids that we waited for that strike and then hit the ball pretty well. Then their second pitcher came in and shut us down for a few innings but we were patient again and finally scored a few more runs.”

Senior pitcher-third baseman Kevin McAvoy epitomized that patience, constantly getting ahead in the count before hitting a pair of home runs and a double while driving in four runs and scoring four times.

Senior center fielder Matt Grimes added three singles for the Witches, while Ricky Adams and Brandon Hardy had two hits apiece and Shawn Gray – a last-minute addition to the starting lineup – contributed three RBIs.

“This is the first game we’ve really got our bats going well,” McAvoy said. “We were off to a slow start at the beginning of the season but this is a great way to break it open. Getting everybody to hit is always a key.”

McAvoy also earned the pitching win, scattering five hits over five innings with seven strikeouts and five walks.

“The last several times Kevin has pitched has been in a relief role and he’s taken it on the chin a bit, so we wanted to give him a start and see how he was going to respond,” Morris said. “Getting some early runs helped him out and put him at ease a little bit. I thought he pitched a great game.”

McAvoy opened the scoring for Brewer with a two-out solo homer to left in the top of the first, a line drive that sparked the Witches to a 4-0 lead as Brad Brown followed later in the inning with an RBI double and Gray added a two-run single.

Bucksport countered with two runs in the bottom of the inning. Chris Maguire walked and Nye Gifford singled, and Maguire scored on a throwing error after Robicheau singled to right. Gifford reached third on the play, and scored on a wild pitch.

But Brewer scored four more runs in the second to push its lead to 8-2. Again the Witches sent 10 batters to the plate, capitalizing on bases-loaded walks to Corey Cushing and Andrew Otis, an RBI single by Brown and a sacrifice fly by Gray.

“We just dug ourselves a hole against a really good team,” said Bucksport coach Mike Cowing. “They hit the ball well, and if you throw it over the plate against them, they’ll make you pay – especially Kevin. You can’t give him anything.”

Bucksport (2-3) closed within 8-3 in the fourth when freshman Cam Wadleigh drew a one-out walk and came around to score on a wild pitch, an infield error and a passed ball, but McAvoy lofted a one-out solo homer in the top of the fifth to make it 9-3.

Joey Carmichael hit a leadoff single in the Bucksport fifth and scored one out later on a single to center by Cooke.

Brewer capped off the scoring with six runs on five hits in the top of the sixth, an uprising highlighted by McAvoy’s two-run double to the fence in left-center field.

“The first couple of games we were ripping the ball but it seemed like it was at people all the time,” said Grimes. “We’re starting to find holes now, and we just have to be patient.”

WITCHES 15, GOLDEN BUCKS 4

Brewer (3-2) Bucksport (2-3)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Otis, lf 3 1 0 1 Maguire, cf 3 1 0 0

Adams, ss 5 2 2 1 Gifford, 3b 3 1 1 0

McAvoy, p-3b 4 4 3 4 Pushard, 1b 3 0 1 0

Grimes, cf 5 3 3 1 Robicheau, p-2b 4 0 1 0

Brown, 1b 2 2 2 2 Carmichael, dh 3 1 2 0

Cushing, 2b 2 1 0 1 Warren, lf 0 0 0 0

Hardy, dh 4 0 2 1 Jackson ss 3 0 0 0

Bush, c 0 0 0 0 Cooke, 2b-p 2 0 1 1

Gray, 3b 3 1 1 3 Wadleigh, c 2 1 0 0

Economy, p 0 0 0 0 Robbins, rf 0 0 0 0

Davis, rf 2 1 1 0 Dedmon, rf 1 0 0 0

Totals 30 15 14 14 Totals 24 4 6 1

Brewer 440 016-15

Bucksport 200 110- 4

E-Davis, Adams; Jackson, Pushard; LOB-Brewer 11, Bucksport 9; 2B-McAvoy, Brown; HR-McAvoy 2; DP-Cushing-Adams-Brown; Gifford-Robicheau-Pushard; Gifford unassisted; SF-Gray; SB-Adams, Grimes 2

Brewer IP H R ER BB SO

McAvoy (W, 1-0) 5 6 4 2 5 7

Economy 1 0 0 0 1 0

Bucksport IP H R ER BB SO

Robicheau (L, 1-1) 2 6 8 5 7 1

Cooke 4 8 7 6 5 0

HBP-Dedmon (by McAvoy); WP-McAvoy 3; Robicheau, Cooke 3; PB-Bush; T-2:15; ATT-100