Pitching, defense key Bangor victory Indians quiet Rams’ bats

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BANGOR – The Bangor High School baseball team finally had its offense held in check Thursday.

But the two unearned runs the Rams did manufacture were still more than enough for Ian Edwards.

The junior righthander pitched his third consecutive complete-game shutout as undefeated Bangor ran its record to 12-0 this season and its overall winning streak to 23 games with a 2-0 victory over Skowhegan at Mansfield Stadium.

“He’s everything they say he is,” said Skowhegan coach Rick York of Edwards. “He is a class act on the mound. He goes out there and works hard. I was impressed with his physical ability, and his composure was great. He’s definitely one of the top players I’ve seen in the state of Maine.”

Edwards (4-0) escaped a bases-loaded, one-out threat in the first but settled down quickly to dominate the Indians during the middle of the contest. He required just 24 pitches in the third, fourth and fifth innings combined thanks to some strong defense by shortstop John Cox, second baseman Chad Kelley and third baseman Shane Walton.

“John was just eating them up at short, he made five or six plays for me,” Edwards said. “Chad had one, Shane had one, it was just great infield play. I think one inning I had just seven pitches, and it was all because of the infield.”

Edwards finished with eight strikeouts, three walks and two hit batters in a 107-pitch performance.

He did have to survive a seventh-inning threat by Skowhegan, which loaded the bases with two outs on an error, a single to center by Chad Vigue and a walk.

Edwards then hit Les Marcue for the third time in the game on an 0-1 pitch, but it was ruled Marcue leaned into the pitch and he wasn’t awarded first base. Marcue then flied out to Bangor center fielder Tom Crews to end the game.

It marked Bangor’s fourth straight shutout victory over Skowhegan since losing to the Indians on May 9, 2006, a streak that includes the Rams’ 10-0, six-inning win in last year’s Eastern Maine Class A final.

But it came in grudging fashion largely because of Vigue, a sophomore righthander who limited a Bangor team that averaged 10 runs per game in its first 11 wins this spring to three singles and no earned runs.

“We didn’t get the big hits like we have been, but it wasn’t because we didn’t hit the ball hard,” said Bangor coach Jeff Fahey. “But it wasn’t our normal hitting, and that’s a credit to their pitcher. He did a good job of keeping us off balance.”

Vigue (3-2) struck out four and walked three while throwing 86 pitches over six innings.

“He had a live fastball and was spotting it well,” said York. “Then he’d throw his deuce to keep those guys off balance, and keeping a Bangor team off balance is quite a feat. Those guys are legit ballplayers, and he did a fantastic job.”

Skowhegan (7-5) ultimately was victimized by its defense, which committed four errors, three in the third inning when Bangor scored its runs.

Tyler McDade led off with a single to left and went to second on a sacrifice by Cox. After Ryan Larochelle and Kyle Vanidestine reached on infield errors to load the bases, Walton singled to left to drive home McDade, and Larochelle scored when the ball was misplayed in the outfield.

“Baseball’s a game of inches,” said York, “and you can’t give any team, especially Bangor, extra outs because it will always come back to bite you.”

RAMS 2, INDIANS 0

Skowhegan (7-5) Bangor (12-0)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

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

Vigue, p 3 0 2 0 Walton, 3b 3 0 1

Calder, cf 3 0 1 0 Edwards, p 3 0 0

Marcue, c 2 0 0 0 Gallant, dh 2 0 0

Sylvain, 3b 2 0 0 0 Kelley, 2b 0 0 0

Matt Morin, dh 3 0 0 0 Webb, c 2 0 0

Mar. Morin, rf 0 0 0 0 Crews, cf 2 0

Little, 1b 3 0 0 0 McDade, 1b 2 1 0

Soucier, lf 2 0 1 0 Cox, ss 1 0 0 0

Hisler, ss 3 0 0 0 R. Larochelle, lf 2 0

Totals 25 0 4 0 Totals 20 2 3 1

Skowhegan 000 000 0 – 0

Bangor 002 000 0 – 2

E-Sylvain 3, Soucier; Crews, Cox; LOB-Skowhegan 9, Bangor 5; S-Sylvain; Cox, McDade; SB-R. Larochelle

Skowhegan IP H R ER BB SO

Vigue (L, 3-2) 6 3 2 0 3 4

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Edwards (W, 4-0) 7 4 0 0 3 8

HBP-Marcue 2 (by Edwards); WP-Vigue; T-1:30; ATT-100 (est.)