Nicknair, Witches blank Coyotes Pitcher halts Old Town in first, then Brewer scores 5 in sixth to win

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BREWER – Jim Nicknair’s moment of pitching truth came early Tuesday afternoon.

But after escaping a two-on, none-out jam in the top of the first against Old Town, the Brewer lefthander was dominant as the No. 5 Witches defeated the No. 12 Coyotes 5-0 in an Eastern Maine Class A preliminary-round baseball game at Heddericg Field.

Nicknair yielded a single to Nathan Lonko – the second batter he faced – and no-hit Old Town the rest of the way to advance 13-4 Brewer to a quarterfinal Thursday at No. 4 Gardiner, 11-6 after a 6-1 win over Messalonskee of Oakland.

“Really, Jimmy won this game back in March,” said Brewer coach David Morris. “Of all of our pitchers, and we’ve had great pitching through and through, he’s been a great example for young kids that if you work hard and believe in yourself, good things are going to happen.”

Nicknair (5-0) threw 84 pitches – 51 for strikes – in outdueling Old Town lefty Adam Fournier, who also took a shutout into the sixth inning.

Nicknair’s biggest challenge came after he walked Cory Estes and allowed Lonko’s pop single to right to open the game. He fell behind 3-0 to Jarrett Lukas before coming all the way back for the strikeout, and then got Chris Brewer to pop out and Caleb Smith to ground out to end the threat.

“That was huge,” said Nicknair. “It’s all about momentum in the playoffs, and if they had gotten the momentum, the game could have turned out a lot differently. I think stopping them built our momentum, and our defense helped us all day.”

Brewer, which managed just two hits off Fournier through five innings, broke through in the sixth. Prentiss Swett hit a leadoff single to left and went to third when Corey Cushing’s fly to deep left was mishandled.

“I thought it was a shallow popup,” Cushing said. “I wasn’t impressed with it running down the first base line, but it just kept carrying.”

Dana Leland came on in relief, and after an intentional walk to Mike Kotredes, he got Shawn Gray to hit into a fielder’s choice that forced Swett out at the plate.

That brought up Mitchell Peasley, who took a 2-2 pitch just inside before being hit by a Leland fastball to force in pinch runner Reid McLaughlin with the go-ahead run.

“I just knew that I couldn’t hit it, it better be a ball,” said Peasley of the 2-2 pitch, “and then I got hit. The first pitch I saw actually hit me, too; one that was called a strike grazed my elbow.”

Tim Bush grounded to third, but the throw home was high and Kotredes and pinch runner Coby Hutchins scored to make it 3-0. Shun Sasaki’s suicide squeeze drove home Peasley, and Porter singled home Bush with the final run.

“[Nicknair] was pitching a great game, and you can’t give up extra outs or make mental mistakes on the bases and expect to win,” said Old Town coach Dave Utterback. “We had chances to get a couple of runs early, but we just couldn’t come through, and that’s how it goes sometimes. It just didn’t fall our way today.”

WITCHES 5, COYOTES 0

Old Town (9-8) Brewer (13-4)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Estes, cf 1 0 0 0 Porter, cf 3 0 1

N. Lonko, 2b 3 0 1 0 Adams, ss 4 0 0

Lukas, ss 2 0 0 0 Swett, 1b 3 0 0

Brewer, 3b 3 0 0 0 Cushing, 2b 3 0 0

Goody, c 3 0 0 0 McLaughlin, pr 0 1 0

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

Leland, dh-p 3 0 0 0 Kotredes, ph 0 1 0

Shaw, 1b 0 0 0 0 Gray, 3b 3 0 0

A. Fournier, p-1b 2 0 0 0 Hutchins, pr 0 0

Honey, lf 1 0 0 0 Peasley, c 2 1 1

Bush, dh 2 1 0 0

Nicknair, p 0 0 0 0

Sasaki, rf 1 0 0 1

Hardy, ph 1 0 0 0

Totals 21 0 1 0 Totals 23 5 4 3

Old Town 000 000 0 – 0

Brewer 000 005 x – 5

E-Swett, Nicknair 2; Brewer, Honey, Goody; LOB-Old Town 4, Brewer 6; DP-Swett-Nicknair; Porter-Cushing; S-Estes; Sasaki; SB-Lukas; Porter, Smith, Gray

Old Town IP H R ER BB SO

A. Fournier (L, 2-4) 5 3 1 1 3 2

Leland 1 1 4 1 1 0

Brewer IP H R ER BB SO

Nicknair (W, 5-0) 7 1 0 0 3 5

HBP-Peasley (by Leland); WP-A. Fournier; T-1:45; ATT-200 (est.)