Orono perseveres, holds off Penquis

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BANGOR – Orono’s 9-6 win over Penquis in an American Legion baseball game at Husson College on Tuesday night was more than mere victory – it was a survival of the elements.

The teams, umpires and fans waited out a 90-minute rain delay at the outset, then had to withstand periodic rain showers, periodic swarms of mosquitos, and finally a 40-minute delay due to lightning with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning.

“It was definitely a weird game,” said Orono’s Dusty Thomas, who pitched the first four innings to earn his first win of the summer. “We had a lot of waiting around to do. We just had to try to keep our heads in the game.”

The win improves Orono’s record to 12-7 as coach Ron Estes’ club seeks to earn one of the top three seeds for the Zone 1 tournament that begins next Friday. Penquis (5-11) remains alive for one of the six playoff berths, but barely.

Orono jumped out to a 9-0 lead on just five hits through 31/2 innings.

Brian Roach led off the game with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jarrett Lukas. The Twins added two runs in the second, with Travis Bryant (three walks) scoring on a passed ball and Cory Estes adding an RBI single.

Thomas hit a one-out triple in the third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Cody Andrews, and Orono scored five runs in the fourth thanks to seven walks and a two-run double to left by George Keefe.

But Penquis reliever Roy Burdin was able to slow down the Orono offense, and the Navigators rallied.

Tim McCarthy hit a one-out single in the bottom of the fourth and scored from third on a wild pitch for the only run Thomas allowed.

Sam Bowers, who had three of the Navigators’ 10 hits, hit a two-run single in the fifth to cut the gap to 9-3, and Eric Day’s two-run triple highlighted a three-run sixth-inning rally that pulled Penquis within 9-3.

The Navigators threatened again in the seventh, getting two runners aboard with two outs before the game was halted due to lightning after Justin Freeman worked the count to 3-1 against Orono lefthander Mike Tardiff.

The teams waited 40 minutes before resuming play, and Freeman walked to bring the winning run to the plate. But Tardiff persevered, getting Day to fly out to center to end the game and earn the save.

“Lately we’ve been getting behind in games, so a big part of today was trying to get a lead and then put them away,” Thomas said. “They did a helluva job coming back, but we did enough to finish the job.”

Calais 9, Presque Isle 8

At Calais, Jeff Ramsdell smacked an RBI double in the bottom of the game to knot the game at eight, and the Suns eventually prevailed for the upset.

Jeff’s brother James drove in two runs on a double, and Corey Colbath had a single with two RBIs. Scott Geel added with two singles and an RBI.

Chad Lavway led Presque Isle with two singles and a double, and Chris Parsons had a double and a single with two RBIs. Spencer King added two singles and Hunter Caron a double.

Presque Isle (10-9) 011 033 0 -8 10 2

Calais (5-14) 000 070 2 -9 8 3

Michaud, Lamoureux (5), Caron (7) and Parsons; Hunt, Geel (5), Sullivan (6) and Ramsdell

Trenton 6, Waldo 2

At Ellsworth, Sam Merrill’s two-run single highlighted a four-run fourth inning as Trenton won its ninth game.

Nick Ciomei added a run-scoring double for the winners and Blake Wessel had an RBI single.

Matt Nickerson and Noah Burke each doubled and singled for Waldo with Nickerson driving in a run.

Waldo (7-12) 100 001 – 2 6 3

Trenton (9-8) 002 40x – 6 6 3

Wentworth, Shute (4), Adams (4), Gardner (4) and Burke; Merrill, Henry (5) and Hines

TWINS 9, NAVIGATORS 6

Orono (12-7) Penquis (5-11)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Roach, lf-cf 4 2 1 0 Woodman, cf 5 0 0

Estes, cf-2b-p 5 0 1 1 Freeman, lf 2 0

Jar. Lukas, 2b-ss 1 0 0 1 Day, ss 5 1 2

Chilleli, cf-2b 1 1 0 1 Pelletier, dh 2 0

Thomas, p-c 4 2 2 0 Conway, rf 0 0 0

Keefe, ss-p 3 0 2 2 McCarthy, 3b 4 2 0

Andrews, 1b 1 0 1 1 Pullen, 1b 4 0 0

Fournier, 1b 1 0 1 0 Bowers, rf-p 4 0 2

Tardiff, rf-p 2 0 0 0 Lancisi, c 3 0

Dunton, rf 1 0 0 0 Kane, 2b 2 1 0

Bryant, c-lf 1 2 0 0

Jac. Lukas 3b 2 1 1 0

Aucoin, p-3b 1 1 0 0

Totals 27 9 9 6 Totals 31 6 10 4

Orono 121 500 0-9

Penquis 000 123 0-6

E-Jac. Lukas; Woodman, Burdin, Day; LOB-Orono 10, Penquis 12; 2B-Keefe; 3B-Roach, Thomas; Day; DP-Day to Kane to Pullen; SF-Jar. Lukas, Andrews; SB-Keefe; Kane 2, McCarthy, Day

Orono IP H R ER BB SO

Thomas (W, 1-0) 4 4 1 1 2 5

Keefe 2/3 3 2 2 1 0

Aucoin 2/3 2 3 3 1 0

Estes 2/3 0 0 0 1 0

Tardiff (Sv, 1) 1 1 0 0 2 0

Penquis IP H R ER BB SO

Nickerson (L, 1-2) 3 1/3 5 9 9 7 3

Burdin 3 1/3 4 0 0 4 0

Bowers 1/3 0 0 0 0 1

HBP-Lancisi by Thomas; WP-Thomas, Estes 2; Nickerson 3, Burdin 2; PB-Lancisi; T-3:10; ATT-75