Basley grabs chance to help Trojans earn win Infielder makes key defensive play vs. Lynx

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LINCOLN – Brent Basley has seen limited playing time as a senior on the Mount Desert Island baseball team.

So when he got the chance to start Saturday, the second baseman literally leaped at the chance – and that ability proved pivotal as the Trojans edged host Mattanawcook Academy 5-4 in a Penobscot Valley Conference Class B matchup.

Basley never batted – senior first baseman Ben Clark provided those heroics with a two-run double in the top of the seventh – but his leaping catch of a line drive by Alex Bottarelli in the fifth ended a bases-loaded, no-outs threat with the Trojans yielding just one run and remaining in a 3-3 tie.

“I didn’t know if I was going to get it or not because it was pretty high,” said Basley. “So I jumped up, lost my balance, and fell backwards and it was hanging on the tip of my glove. I fell over and looked at my glove and it was sitting there.”

“I was looking for the right fielder to pick up the one Bottarelli hit,” added MA coach Greg Reed. “I never even saw him catch it.”

Mattanawcook (3-3) took a 4-3 lead with two outs in the sixth. Adam Laird reached on an infield hit up the middle, stole second and scored on Adam Long’s third single of the game.

But 5-3 MDI, limited to three hits through the first six innings by MA righthander Peter Coggins, matched that output in the seventh to produce a game-winning rally.

Danny Dunn singled to right with one out and went to second as Nick Swanson grounded a single to left. Clark, the Trojans’ cleanup hitter, belted the first pitch he saw to the gap in left-center, driving home both runners.

“He gave me the exact pitch I was looking for, a fastball that was pretty much right down the middle, maybe a little inside,” said Clark, who also singled. “It was the exact pitch I wanted, so I roped it.”

Righthander Taylor Volarik earned the win, replacing starter Brett Mitchell during that fifth-inning jam and getting an Aaron Flannery sacrifice fly and a strikeout before Basley made his rally-killing catch.

“We made some good plays at the end when we needed to, and we got some big hits,” MDI coach Mike Swanson said. “That was the play of the game right there.”

Nick Swanson replaced Volarik in the seventh, yielding a one-out walk to Flannery and a wild pitch that put pinch runner Ryan Shaw in scoring position before retiring the final two batters to earn the save.

Coggins scattered six hits in a complete-game effort for MA while striking out eight batters and walking two.

“He’s thrown the ball well all spring,” said Reed. “They just happened to time him up for [three] in a row. That’s a good lineup.”

MDI took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third. Josh Dellaittre hit a one-out single to center and Mitchell walked before Dellaittre scored from third on a suicide squeeze by Dunn. Mitchell scored on Nick Swanson’s sacrifice fly.

MA tied the game in the fourth. The Lynx loaded the bases with one out on a single by Jake Smith, a walk to Coggins and an infield single by Bottarelli before Smith and Coggins scored on an infield error.

MDI regained the lead in the top of the fifth as Dellaittre reached on an error, stole second and went to third on Dunn’s infield single to the shortstop hole before scoring on another MA error.

TROJANS 5, LYNX 4

MDI (5-3) Mattanawcook (3-3)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Mitchell p-rf 3 1 0 0 Long, cf 4 1

Volarik, p 0 0 0 0 Gardner, 2b 4 0 0

Dunn, rf-cf 3 1 2 1 Smith, c 2 1 0

N. Swanson, cf-p 3 1 1 1 Flannery, 1b 2 1

Clark, 1b 4 0 2 2 Shaw, pr 0 0 0

Tweedie, dh 4 0 0 0 Coggins, p 3 1 0

Basley, 2b 0 0 0 0 Bottarelli, dh 4 0 0

Stewart, ss 2 0 0 0 Cahill, rf 0 0 0

Gilmartin, 3b 3 0 0 0 White, lf 3 0

J. Swanson, c 2 0 0 0 Bernier, lf 0 0

Dellaittre, lf 3 2 1 0 Nesin, 3b 2 0

Farrell, ph 1 0 0 0

Laird, ss 3 1 1 0

Totals 27 5 6 4 Totals 28 4 7 2

Mount Desert Island 002 010 2 – 5

Mattanawcook Academy 000 211 0 – 4

E-Gilmartin, Mitchell; White, Coggins, Gardner, Nesin, Laird; LOB-MDI 6; Mattanawcook 8; 2B-Clark; S. Dunn, J. Swanson; SF-N. Swanson; Flannery; SB-Dunn 2, Mitchell, Dellaittre; Long, Gardner, Laird

MDI IP H R ER BB SO

Mitchell 4 5 3 0 3 5

Volarik (W, 1-1) 2 2 1 1 0 3

N. Swanson (S, 1) 1 0 0 0 1 1

Mattanawcook IP H R ER BB SO

Coggins (L, 1-1) 7 6 5 3 2 8

WP-Mitchell; Coggins 2; PB-J. Swanson; Smith; T-1:55; ATT-125 (est.)