December 21, 2024
AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL

Brewer, Bangor, Orono record opening wins Hampden to play Trenton in elimination game

BANGOR – The top two seeds in the American Legion Zone 1 baseball tournament played like them Friday afternoon as Brewer and Bangor both left Mansfield Stadium with comfortable opening- round victories.

The nightcap offered a little bit of everything as the game between No. 3 Orono and No. 4 Presque Isle went from pitchers’ duel to blowout to slugfest before the Orono Twins finally recorded the final out on a 13-10 victory.

Earlier Friday, the top-seeded Falcons knocked off No. 6 Hampden 9-3 to lead things off and No. 2 Bangor followed with a 4-1 win over No. 5 Trenton.

The 21-2 Falcons will take on 12-10 Presque Isle at 4 p.m. Saturday, 18-4 Bangor will play 15-8 Orono at 8 p.m., and 11-12 Trenton meets 10-13 Hampden in a noon elimination game.

In the late afternoon game, Bangor spotted pitcher Josh Young a two-run lead in the first and took some pressure off before Young – backed by an error-free defense that turned several sparkling plays – set the tone from the mound early by allowing just three hits and three total baserunners through the first 6 2/3 innings.

“I knew my defense came to play and even though my fastball was wicked slow, my curveball was working well and I was going with my split a lot too,” said Young. “The bullpen warmups really got me more than ready for the game and loosened me up.”

Young threw 68 of 96 pitches for strikes while scattering six hits, notching six strikeouts, and issuing no walks.

“He injured his leg scoring from second the other day, and he was already a little messed up from having it cramp up on him on the mound a couple weeks ago, so I wasn’t sure how far he’d go,” said Comrades coach John Winkin. “We were a little worried, but I think the heat and humidity helped.”

Bangor scored two in the first on a leadoff single by Jordan Heath, an RBI triple into the right center field gap by Alex Means, and a sacrifice fly by Brian Hackett against pitcher Dan Hilts.

The Comrades made it 3-0 with an unearned run in the third on a two-out single by Eric Anderson – his second of the game – and two Trenton fielding errors. The last run came in the seventh as Anderson and Gordon Webb hit back-to-back, two-out doubles.

“My double came off a hanging curve he left up in the zone, and I was able to drive it opposite field. It was mostly offspeed stuff we saw,” Anderson said.

Hilts allowed 10 hits, but had no walks in the quality start.

“After the first, he pitched like we expect him to. He got ahead of hitters and didn’t let the bad defensive inning bug him,” Trenton coach Bill Gray said. “The thing is, Young controlled us most of the time and what few times he didn’t, they made great plays behind him.”

Trenton’s lone run came in the eighth via a leadoff single by Will Rosenthal, an Adam Cousins single, a Kyle Shea sacrifice bunt, and a Nick Ciomei sacrifice fly.

Friday night, Travis Dunton played all three outfield positions, pitched, and went 4-for-5 with three singles and a double to lead Orono to the win against the diehard Patriots.

Teammate Dustin Thomas also had a big hand in the win as he hit a two-run single in the fifth, a two-run home run in the sixth, and a double in the eighth while scoring three times to pace Orono, which scored eight runs in the fifth to break up a scoreless game.

The Twins would add three more runs in the sixth and what turned out to be a couple of valuable insurance runs in the eighth in a game they were two outs away from ending in the seventh with an 11-0 lead and the mercy rule in play. That was before the Patriots came up with four runs to prolong things and then another sixth (five unearned) in the ninth to make the Twins sweat it out. Brian Roach retired the last batter with runners at first and second on a flyout to left to earn a save.

“It was one of those games where we were lucky to get ahead in the first place,” said Orono coach Ron Estes, referring to Presque Isle stranding six runners in the first two innings and eight in the first four. “It went from relaxed to seeing the potential winning run come up to bat for them, but getting the ‘W’ is what counts.”

Dan Michaud led the Pats’ 11-hit effort with three singles. Hunter Caron had two singles and two RBIs.

In the early game, Andrew Patterson escaped a bases-loaded jam without much damage early and threw eight solid innings while his offense backed him up with 14 hits. Jeff Miller and Kevin McAvoy led the way for Brewer with three singles and one RBI apiece. Matt Grimes chipped in with a double, a single, and an RBI.

Joel Neill, Brian McGinley and Nate Ellis each singled twice for Hampden’s Riverdogs.

(First Game)

No. 6 Hampden 010 200 000 – 3 9 2

No. 1 Brewer 211 012 20x – 9 14 2

Pease, Farley (8) and Lee; Patterson, Davis (9) and Robichaud

(Second Game)

No. 5 Trenton 000 000 010 – 1 6 2

No. 2 Bangor 201 000 10x – 4 11 0

Hilts, Pooler (8) and Hines; Young and Webb

(Third Game)

No. 4 Presque Isle 000 000 406 – 10 11 5

No. 3 Orono 000 083 02x – 13 14 5

York, Hill (5) and Austin; Tardiff, Dunton (7), Roach (9) and Thomas

Correction: A shorter version of this article ran in the State and Coastal editions.

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