Farley pitches in, outduels Fournier to lead Hampden

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HAMPDEN – The Hampden Academy baseball team has been victimized by the big inning in each of its three losses this spring.

Skowhegan had two four-run uprisings in a 9-4 win last Friday, while Bangor and Messalonskee of Oakland also used four-run rallies to get the best of the Broncos.

Left-hander Evan Farley didn’t let that happen Monday, limiting Old Town to five hits over six innings as Hampden edged the Coyotes 3-1 in a Class A encounter at Bordick Park.

“This was a good win for us,” said Farley, a junior who struck out six and walked three before getting seventh-inning relief from Jon Ireland.

“I’m sure it gave us a lot of Heal points, and it just gave us all a little more confidence,” he said.

Farley’s best pitch was his overhand curve, which accounted for several of his strikeouts and also served to keep many of the Old Town batters off balance.

“The last couple of days I’ve been working on it,” he said. “I pitched in the Bangor game [last week] and it worked pretty well and that built my confidence, because in a couple of games before that I hadn’t thrown it that well.”

Ian Lee paced Hampden’s offense with a double, single, two walks, one run scored and two RBIs. One of his walks came with the bases loaded in the sixth inning to force home first baseman Jake Hitchings with the pivotal insurance run.

Lee, a senior catcher, is now batting .737 (14 for 19) through the Broncos’ 2-3-1 start.

Hitchings also doubled and singled for coach David Shapiro’s Hampden club, which never trailed, but never enjoyed much of a comfort zone thanks to a solid pitching effort by Old Town lefty Adam Fournier, who allowed one earned run in 5 1/3 innings.

“I thought both guys pitched pretty well,” said Old Town coach Dave Utterback. “They made some plays when they had to and we didn’t.”

Perhaps the biggest play came with one out in the Old Town fifth, just after the Coyotes scored their only run on a bases-loaded walk to Brian Lonko.

Nathan Lonko came up next and flied out to right field. Hampden’s Shawn Smith made the catch as Fournier tagged up at third base and threw the ball to Hitchings, whose relay throw home cut down the Old Town runner and prevented the tying run from scoring.

That wouldn’t be the Coyotes last threat, but Farley stranded runners at first and second in the sixth and Ireland left the bases loaded in the seventh to earn the save.

“We kept chipping away and battling back and we got to Farley a little bit in the later innings, but he threw very well, as well as anybody we’ve seen,” said Utterback. “We just couldn’t tie together a couple of hits in a row.”

Jarrett Lukas led the Old Town offense with two singles.

Hampden took a 2-0 lead in the third inning. Justin Kelsey reached on an error and scored when Lee doubled to center. Lee stole third and scored on a suicide squeeze by Dan MacLean.

BRONCOS 3, COYOTES 1

Old Town (3-2) Hampden Acad. (2-3-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

B. Lonko, rf 3 0 1 1 Neill, lf 3 0 0

N. Lonko, ss 4 0 0 0 Kelsey, ss 4 1 0

Lukas, 3b 3 0 2 0 Lee, c 2 1 2 2

Brewer, dh 4 0 0 0 MacLean, cf 2 0 1

Paradis, 2b 0 0 0 0 Smith, rf 3 0 0

Goody, c 2 0 1 0 Farley, p 3 0 0

C. Fournier, pr 0 0 0 0 Ireland, p 0 0

Leland, 1b-p 3 1 0 0 Stephens, 3b 3 0 0

A. Fournier, p-1b 3 0 1 0 Shue, 2b 3 0

Honey, lf 3 0 1 0 Hitchings, 1b 3 1 0

Estes, cf 2 0 1 0

Totals 27 1 7 1 Totals 26 3 9 3

Old Town 000 010 0 – 1

Hampden Acad. 002 001 x – 3

E-N. Lonko 2; Stephens, Kelsey; LOB-Old Town 9, Hampden Acad. 10; 2B-Lee, Hitchings; DP-Kelsey-Hitchings, Smith-Hitchings-Lee; S-MacLean 2; SB-Neill, Lee, MacLean, Farley, Shue

Old Town IP H R ER BB SO

A. Fournier (L,0-1) 5 1/3 9 3 1 2 3

Leland 2/3 0 0 0 1 0

Hampden Acad. IP H R ER BB SO

Farley (W,2-1) 6 5 1 0 3 6

Ireland (S,1) 1 2 0 0 1 1

T-1:59; ATT-75 (est.)