Rams withstand challenge, hold off Broncs

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BANGOR – The Bangor High baseball team has been rarely challenged so far this spring.

But when an early lead Wednesday was threatened by a young but able Hampden Academy squad, the undefeated Rams responded with big plays and big hits to pull away to a 6-1 victory at Mansfield Stadium.

Senior center fielder Tom Crews was the offensive star for the defending Class A state champions, hitting an inside-the-park home run, a double and a single, while sophomore righthander Jordan Clarke scattered five hits over six innings for the pitching win.

The victory was the 17th straight overall for the reigning Class A state champs, 7-0 this spring, but didn’t come as easily as most of its predecessors.

Trailing 2-0 and without a hit entering the fourth inning, Hampden pushed across a run as Josh Tardiff followed singles by Harvey Shue and Evan Farley with an RBI groundout.

The groundout advanced Farley into scoring position, but he stayed at second base as Bangor left fielder Alex Gallant made a lunging catch of a Brennan Perry fly ball in the stiff wind to end the inning.

Bangor used that threat as motivation, scoring three runs in the bottom of the fourth. Back-to-back doubles by Crews and Tyler McDade made it 3-1, and McDade scored on a one-out single by Ryan Larochelle. One out later, Shane Walton lined a shot through the wind to deep center for an RBI triple.

“Today was a good test for us,” said Bangor coach Jeff Fahey. “I think our kids in about the third inning realized they were in a game and tacked on a few runs.”

Hampden had one more threat left, loading the bases with one out in the fifth. Again Bangor’s defense came up big, as Walton charged in from third base to field Shue’s slow chopper and start an inning-ending 5-2-3 double play.

“As I’m coming to it I’m thinking about fielding it and giving [catcher] Gordie [Webb] a good feed so he can make the throw for the double play,” said Walton, “but you’ve got to make the first out first.”

Crews added the exclamation point for Bangor with his home run, an opposite-field drive over Hampden rightfielder Brennan Perry’s head with two outs in the bottom of the fifth.

“As soon as I hit the ball I could tell it was over his head and I just ran from there,” said Crews. “I picked up the coach at third base and he [John Tennett] told me to keep going. Luckily it was sort of a bad throw in the dirt, but I ran as fast as I could around third and scored.”

Clarke was around the plate most of the day, striking out three batters while walking one in improving his record to 3-0.

“From his previous two starts he hit his spots a lot better today,” said senior catcher Gordon Webb, whose two-run single in the first inning gave Bangor a 2-0 lead. “He was placing his fastball better going from side to side, his curve was a lot better, and he was making the hitters guess.”

Hampden also got a solid pitching effort from sophomore Shawn Smith, who struck out four and walked no one while scatting 10 hits against a Bangor team that averaged 10.8 runs in its first six wins.

“He did an outstanding job, and kept them off-balance,” said Hampden coach David Shapiro. “To give up about three hard-hit balls during the course of a game against a team like that is pretty good.”

RAMS 6, BRONCOS 1

Hampden Acad. (2-3) Bangor (7-0)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Smith, p 3 0 1 0 Vanidestine, rf 4 1 0

Shue, 2b 3 1 1 0 Walton, 3b 3 0 1

Neill, crf 3 0 1 0 Edwards, ss 3 1 0

Farley, 1b 3 0 1 0 Gallant, lf 3 0 0

Tardiff, dh 3 0 0 1 Webb, c 3 0 1 2

Lindemann, lf 0 0 0 0 Crews, cf 3 1

Perry, rf 3 0 0 0 McDade, 1b 3 1 1

Kelsey, 3b 2 0 0 0 Clarke, p 3 0 0

Stephens, c 3 0 0 0 Gray, p 0 0 0 0

Turner, ss 2 0 1 0 R. Larochelle, dh 3 1

Kelley, 2b 0 0 0 0

Totals 25 1 5 1 Totals 28 6 10 6

Hampden Acad. 000 100 0 – 1

Bangor 200 310 x – 6

E-Clarke, Walton; LOB-Hampden 5, Bangor 4; 2B-Neill; Crews, McDade; 3B-Walton; HR-Crews; DP-Bangor 2; SB-Vanidestine, R. Larochelle

Hampden Acad. IP H R ER BB SO

Smith (L, 1-1) 6 10 6 6 0 4

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Clarke (W, 3-0) 6 5 1 1 1 3

Gray 1 0 0 0 0 0

HBP-Turner by Clarke; T-1:35; ATT-100 (est.)