Bangor’s Hackett shuts out Brewer

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BANGOR – It was a game made for the competitive nature of Bangor senior right-hander Brian Hackett.

Scoreless into the fifth inning, with no margin for error, and Hackett was being matched pitch for pitch by Brewer junior Evan Economy.

Finally the Rams broke through with the smallest of rallies, and one run proved to be enough as Hackett pitched a complete-game two-hitter to lift Bangor to a 1-0 baseball victory over the Witches at Mansfield Stadium on Tuesday night.

“It makes it fun,” said Hackett after Bangor’s third win of the spring against its crossriver rival, and second by a 1-0 score. “You want the close games, and you want the ball in those situations.”

Both teams end the regular season at 11-5, and the win will secure at least one home playoff game for Bangor, which began the week ranked sixth in Eastern Maine Class A.

“We’re still not scoring many runs, but we’re not making many mistakes,” said Bangor coach Jeff Fahey. “Defensively we’re playing well, and now we’re getting better pitching than we did earlier.”

Brewer, rated fifth in the latest Heal Points, also is hopeful of hosting a preliminary-round contest despite seeing its six-game win streak halted.

“I think we’ve got pitching that will win games for us,” said Witches’ coach David Morris, “and I think our defense will win games for us, and if we get some offense, we might have everything together.”

Hackett struck out 11, walked one and hit a batter while throwing 93 pitches, 66 for strikes. He went to just three three-ball counts, only one after the first inning.

“I was throwing two types of fastballs,” said Hackett. “One was moving a lot, and I usually don’t throw it that much because it’s hard to control, but I was hitting my spots. The curveball’s usually there for me, and it continued to work well.”

Hackett needed that degree of efficiency to outlast Economy, a righthander who truly threw an economy of pitches – 65 for the game, 44 for strikes – while pitching a two-hitter of his own.

“Evan threw very well,” said Morris. “His fastball was working, his curveball was working, he threw a good changeup and kept people off balance. He put us in a winning position.”

Neither team managed a hit until the fourth inning, when Brewer’s Matt Grimes beat out a two-out infield single to the shortstop hole.

Bangor didn’t manage its first hit until an inning later, when it struck for the game’s only run.

Sophomore catcher Gordon Webb came up with the game’s big hit, a one-out double to right-center just beyond diving Brewer outfielder Ben Davis.

“I came up sitting on a fastball, got an outside pitch and just ripped it,” Webb said. “I just took it where it was pitched, and I’m glad I hit it.”

Drew Sturgeon pinch-ran for Webb, and moved to third on a two-out infield single by Aaron Gallant. Sturgeon then scored the game’s only run on the back end of a double-steal.

“I was thinking small ball since the second inning,” said Fahey. “The way we’ve been scoring runs, had we gotten someone on earlier I probably would have bunted him over.”

Brewer’s best scoring bid came in the seventh, when Kevin McAvoy beat out an infield hit and stole second before Matt Grimes was hit by a pitch. The runners eventually reached second and third on a groundout by pinch-hitter Mike Kotredes, but Hackett retired Davis on a fly to center in order to end the game in 1 hour, 22 minutes.

“I feel like we’re starting to play like we should be able to play,” said Hackett. “I think we underachieved for most of the season, but now we’re starting to pick it up, get the clutch hit and the clutch run, and pitch well and defend well.”

RAMS 1, WITCHES 0

Brewer (11-5) Bangor (11-5)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Otis, lf 3 0 0 0 Estabrook, 2b 2 0 0

Hardy, dh 3 0 0 0 Toomey, pr 0 0 0

Economy, p 0 0 0 0 Heath, ss 2 0 0

McAvoy, 3b 2 0 1 0 B. Hackett, p 3 0 0

Grimes, cf 2 0 1 0 Anderson, 1b 2 0 0

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

Cushing, 2b 2 0 0 0 Webb, c 2 0 1 0

Kotredes, ph 1 0 0 0 Sturgeon, pr 0 1 0

Davis, rf 3 0 0 0 Murphy, dh 2 0 0

Peasley, c 2 0 0 0 Crews, rf 0 0 0

Adams, ss 2 0 0 0 Aa. Gallant, lf 2 0 0

Eremita, cf 2 0 0 0

Totals 23 0 2 0 Totals 20 1 2 0

Brewer 000 000 0-0

Bangor 000 010 x-1

E-McAvoy, Peasley; Webb; LOB-Brewer 4, Bangor 4; 2B-Webb; S-Heath; SB-McAvoy 2, Grimes; Sturgeon, Aa. Gallant

Brewer IP H R ER BB SO

Economy (L, 4-1) 6 2 1 1 2 4

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

B. Hackett (W, 4-2) 7 2 0 0 1 11

HBP-Grimes; T-1:22; ATT-150