Bucks topple Bapst Bucksport posts 11th straight win

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BANGOR – With showdowns looming against both a chief rival in the Eastern Maine Class B baseball ranks and the only team to defeat them this spring, a big challenge facing the Bucksport Golden Bucks on Tuesday was to not look ahead.

“It’s definitely hard,” said junior outfielder Pat Dedmon. “You can’t help but anticipate those games.”

But looking ahead wasn’t an issue after all for Bucksport in a 10-5 win over John Bapst at the Winkin Complex.

An offense boasting a .358 batting average pounded out 11 hits – the eighth time this spring Bucksport has had at least 10 hits.

And the defense made just one error behind righthanders Teddy Cooke and Miles Bisher, who represented a pitching staff with a 1.83 earned run average by yielding just seven hits and two earned runs.

No wonder Bucksport has 11 straight wins and an 11-1 record, good for second place in the Heal Point ratings.

“That’s a top-notch team,” said John Bapst coach Shane Graham. “They’re the best team in the region right now. They’re well coached, they’re athletic, and they hit the ball.”

Whether coach Tiger Stewart’s club can overtake Winslow for the top spot in Eastern B will depend on how it fares starting Thursday in games against Ellsworth, Hermon, and George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill on consecutive days. Class B rival Ellsworth is 10-1, its only loss coming at Bucksport, while Class C GSA (12-1) handed the Golden Bucks their only loss on opening day.

“It’s tough not to look at those games,” said Cooke, who yielded six hits with four walks and four strikeouts over six innings. “But we like to take every game as it comes.”

Joe Robicheau paced Bucksport’s offense with a triple, double, and three RBIs, while Matt Jackson singled twice from the leadoff spot in the order and Dedmon doubled and singled from the No. 8 spot.

“That’s basically what we’ve done all year,” Dedmon said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who can hit the ball.”

John Bapst, 5-7 and eighth in the Eastern B Heal Points, was without two top hitters in Nick Hubbard and Anthony Ortiz, who are in Tennessee competing in an academic decathlon.

Jon Gagnon paced the Crusaders with two singles, while Tyler King doubled.

Bucksport took a 1-0 lead in the first as Matt Jackson and Eddie Robbins singled before Jackson scored on a groundout by Chris Maguire.

The Golden Bucks added five runs in the third, a rally featuring a two-run double by Robicheau and a two-run triple by Joe Soper, who scored on a sacrifice fly by Todd Freeman.

John Bapst closed within 6-3 in the bottom of the inning on RBI singles by Aaron Healey and Alex Yates and a sacrifice fly by Kyle Gallant.

Dedmon’s two-run double and an RBI triple by Robicheau extended Bucksport’s lead to 9-3 in the top of the fifth.

Casey Hull’s sacrifice fly in the sixth plated Chris Smith as John Bapst cut the gap to 9-4.

Bucksport added an unearned run in the seventh before John Bapst closed out the scoring in the bottom of the inning on a sacrifice fly by pitcher Nick Smith.

GOLDEN BUCKS 10, CRUSADERS 5

Bucksport (11-1) John Bapst (5-7)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Jackson, ss 4 2 2 0 Hull, 2b 3 1 1

Robbins, cf 3 1 1 0 Healey, dh 2 1 1

Maguire, 1b 3 2 1 1 Levesque, 1b 1 0 0

Robicheau, dh 4 2 2 3 Gallant, ss 3 1

Fish, 2b 0 0 0 0 Gagnon, rf 4 1 0

Wadleigh, c 4 0 1 0 Yates, c 4 0 1

Bowden, pr 0 1 0 0 N. Smith, p 2 0 1

Soper, 3b 3 1 1 2 C. Smith, lf 3 1 0

Gray, ph 1 0 0 0 Clark, cf 2 0 0

Freeman, rf 1 1 1 0 Merritt, ph 1 0 0

Blair, ph 0 0 0 0 Moriarty, pr 0 0 0

Dedmon, lf 3 0 2 2 King, 3b 2 1 0

Mitchell, ph 1 0 0 0

Cooke, p 3 0 0 0

Bisher, p 1 0 0 0

Totals 31 10 11 8 Totals 27 5 7 5

Bucksport 105 030 1 – 10

John Bapst 003 001 1 – 5

E-Fish; King; LOB-Bucksport 5, John Bapst 8; 2B-Robicheau, Wadleigh, Dedmon; King; 3B-Robicheau, Soper; SF-Freeman; Gallant, Hull; SB-Jackson, Robbins, Freeman

Bucksport IP H R ER BB SO

Cooke (W, 3-0) 6 6 4 2 4 4

Bisher 1 1 1 0 1 0

John Bapst IP H R ER BB SO

N. Smith (L, 2-1) 7 11 10 9 3 3

HBP-Freeman (by N. Smith); WP-Cooke, Bisher; BK-Cooke; PB-Wadleigh; T-1:51; ATT-75 (est.)