Bangor rallies by Brewer Larochelle’s triple in sixth provides winning edge

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BANGOR – The Bangor High School baseball team has a solid nucleus of veterans back from its 2006 Class A state championship team.

But it was a newcomer to the lineup who helped the Rams grind out an 8-7 victory over Brewer at Mansfield Stadium on Saturday.

Sophomore left fielder Ryan Larochelle, batting in the No. 9 slot in the Rams’ lineup, tripled home pinch runner Jimmy Burns with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning to snap a 7-7 tie and give Bangor a sweep of its season-opening doubleheader against two opponents.

Earlier in the day, the Rams cruised past Erskine Academy of South China 11-1 in a five-inning contest.

“We had only had one practice here and then came out today and played two games, the second one against a real tough team,” said Bangor junior right fielder Kyle Vanidestine, who had three hits and five stolen bases in the two games. “I thought we did a real good job of pulling it together.”

Brewer had forged the 7-7 tie in the top of the sixth as Rick Adams doubled home a run and scored on a two-out RBI single by Brad Brown.

Brewer reliever Eric White retired the first two batters he faced in the bottom of the inning before Matt Boehmer walked on a 3-2 pitch. Pinch runner Jimmy Burns stole second base on a close, disputed play before Larochelle pulled a 1-0 pitch over the head of Brewer right fielder Jim Nicknair to drive home what proved to be the winning run.

“I was just looking to sit on a fastball,” said Larochelle, “[White] hadn’t thrown any early curveballs to anybody, so I was sitting on that fastball and trying to get a base hit because with Jimmy on second, he’s going to score on anything you hit into the outfield.”

Larochelle’s triple produced the last of five runs scored after the Witches had retired the first two Bangor batters in an inning.

Back-to-back two-out walks to Larochelle and Vanidestine in the second were followed by two Brewer errors around an infield hit by Ian Edwards that led to two runs.

Vanidestine drew a two-out walk to ignite another rally in the fifth. Shane Walton followed with a walk before both runners scored on a single to left by Edwards to give Bangor its 7-5 lead.

“With a team of that caliber and with that experience like Bangor has, if you give them opportunity after opportunity to score runs with two outs, it’s tough,” said Brewer coach David Morris. “Even though in some of those situations we got the first two outs quickly, but the third out just seemed to be tough to get.”

Sophomore Matt Duplisea earned the win with three innings of three-hit relief in support of Ian Edwards, who worked the first three innings. Alex Gallant hurled a scoreless seventh for the save.

“Matt threw very well and he threw strikes, which Ian was having trouble doing,” said Bangor coach Jeff Fahey. “Matt came in and got us to Alex. He threw strikes and kept us in the game.”

Vanidestine singled and drew three walks while scoring four runs from the leadoff slot in the Bangor order. Edwards had three singles and three RBIs, and Walton had two singles and two runs scored.

Adams doubled, singled, and walked for Brewer, scoring three runs and adding two RBIs. Brown drove in three runs with two singles and a sacrifice fly, while Prentiss Swett hit a two-run single to cap off a three-run, third-inning rally that pulled the Witches into a 3-3 tie.

Bangor took a 1-0 lead in the first as Vanidestine singled to center, went to third on a wild pitch and a passed ball, and scored on Walton’s single to center.

Brewer loaded the bases with one out in the second before Edwards ended the threat with a pair of strikeouts.

Bangor made it 3-0 in the bottom of the inning, capitalizing on two Brewer errors and a pair of walks.

In Bangor’s first game, Jordan Clarke and Jim Batchelder combined to pitch a five-inning one-hitter.

Larochelle’s two-run single fueled a four-run rally by Bangor in the second inning.

Tom Crews had two doubles and three RBIs for Bangor, while Edwards tripled and singled, Gordon Webb and Vanidestine each singled twice, and Walton added a two-run triple.

Aaron Zienkiewicz’s leadoff single in the top of the fifth was Erskine’s lone hit.

RAMS 8, WITCHES 7

(Second Game)

Brewer (0-1) Bangor (2-0)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Adams, 2b 3 3 2 2 Vanidestine, rf 2 4 0

White, lf-p 3 1 1 0 Walton, 3b 3 2 1

Brown, 1b 3 1 2 3 Edwards, p-ss 4 0 3

Swett, dh-p-lf 3 0 1 2 Webb, c 2 0 0

Burnham, rf 0 0 0 0 Gallant, 1b-p 3 0 1

Hutchins, pr 0 0 0 0 Crews, cf 4 0 0

McLaughlin, 3b 4 0 1 0 Batchelder, dh 3 0

Smith, ss 4 0 1 0 Kelley, ss 0 0 0

Bush, c 3 0 0 0 Duplisea, p 0 0 0

Nicknair, p-rf 3 1 0 0 Clarke, ph 1 0

Sasaki, cf 2 1 0 0 McDade, 1b 0 0 0

Boehmer, 2b 3 0 0 0

Burns, pr 0 1 0 0

R. Larochelle, lf 3 1 1

Totals 28 7 8 7 Totals 28 8 7 6

Brewer 003 202 0 – 7

Bangor 120 221 x – 8

E-McLaughlin 2, Smith, Burnham, Brown; Boehmer 2; LOB-Brewer 5, Bangor 11; 2B-Adams; 3B-R. Larochelle; S-White; SF-Brown; Gallant; SB-Sasaki, Nicknair; Vanidestine 2, Walton 2, Webb 2, Burns, R. Larochelle

Brewer IP H R ER BB SO

Nicknair 3 5 5 3 4 2

Swett 2 1 2 0 3 2

White (L, 0-1) 1 1 1 1 1 1

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Edwards 3 5 3 3 3 5

Duplisea (W, 1-0) 3 3 4 3 1 1

Gallant (S, 1) 1 0 0 0 0 1

Nicknair pitched to 3 batters in the 4th.

WP-Nicknair 2; Edwards, Duplissea; PB-Bush 2; Webb; T-2:28; ATT-150

(First Game)

Erskine Acad. (0-1) 000 01 – 1 1 3

Bangor (1-0) 041 51 – 11 11 0

Cowing, Medina (4) and Carrier, Senior (5); Clarke, Batchelder (4) and Webb, Brookings (5)