Bangor downs Skowhegan Vanidestine, Clarke lead Rams into semis

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BANGOR – When Bangor met Skowhegan in last year’s Eastern Maine Class A baseball final, a 10-pitch walk drawn by leadoff hitter Kyle Vanidestine propelled the Rams to a six-inning victory and a trip to the state championship game.

When the teams met again Thursday in a regional quarterfinal at Mansfield Stadium, Vanidestine did even more damage while facing fewer than half the pitches as Bangor remained undefeated with a five-inning, 13-2 victory.

The junior rightfielder lofted the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the first to deep right field for a triple, then led off the Bangor third with the first of his two singles in the inning as Bangor sent 15 batters to the plate and scored 11 runs on 11 hits to break the game open.

Vanidestine saw just four pitches in three at-bats, yet turned them into three hits and three runs scored.

“Lately I’ve been kind of tense, trying too hard, but today I was relaxed,” said Vanidestine. “I just waited for my pitches and when it was there, I just hit it. I was looking for fastballs mostly.”

The win improved the Rams to 17-0 this spring and was the 28th straight victory overall for coach Jeff Fahey’s defending state champions, who will host No. 4 Old Town in Saturday’s semifinals.

Bangor had 13 hits in support of sophomore righthander Jordan Clarke, who struck out four, walked one and scattered three hits in his first varsity postseason start.

“I’ve been through this before in [American] Legion and the [Senior League] World Series, so I’ve sort of got used to the pressure,” said Clarke. “I just thought before the game about throwing strikes, because I knew my defense would help me out.”

No. 8 Skowhegan (10-8) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, the Indians’ first run against Bangor in 25 2/3 innings covering four straight shutout losses to the Rams since winning a 6-5 decision here on May 5, 2006.

Andy Calder drew a two-out walk, stole second and scored on a ground single up the middle by Cody Vigue.

Vanidestine went the opposite way for his first-inning triple over the head of Skowhegan right fielder Marcus Morin, then scored the tying run on a sacrifice fly by Ian Edwards.

“When Kyle can lead off a game with a hit,” said Fahey, “I bet he’s scored close to 90 percent of the time.”

Bangor took a 2-1 lead in the second when Tom Crews reached on an infield error, stole second and scored on Tyler McDade’s single to left.

But Skowhegan re-tied the game in the top of the third. John Little hit a leadoff single and went to second on an infield error before pinch-runner Travis Goodwin scored on Calder’s two-out single to right.

Bangor had hit several hard shots off Skowhegan righthander Devin Sylvain the first time around the order, but the second time around proved abundantly more fruitful.

Vanidestine opened the Bangor third with a single to left, the first of six straight hits by the Rams.

Ian Edwards and Gordon Webb each had a double, a single, two runs scored and three RBIs during the uprising, while Alex Gallant legged out two infield hits and scored two runs and Ryan Larochelle contributed an RBI single.

RAMS 13, INDIANS 2

(5 innings)

Skowhegan (10-8) Bangor (17-0)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

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

Hisler, ss 3 0 0 0 Walton, 3b 3 1 0

Calder, cf 1 1 1 1 Edwards, ss 2 2 4

Vigue, 3b 2 0 1 1 Gallant, lf 3 2 0

Matt Morin, 1b 2 0 0 0 Webb, lf 3 3

Marcue, c 2 0 0 0 Crews, cf 3 2 0

Sylvain, p-rf 2 0 0 0 McDade, 1b 1 1

Little, dh 2 0 1 0 Boehmer, ph 1 0 0

Mar. Morin, rf 0 0 0 0 Clarke, p 2 0

Goodwin, pr 0 1 0 0 Batchelder, ph 1 0 0

Williamson, p 0 0 0 0 R. Larochelle, dh 1

Soucier, lf 2 0 0 0 Kelley, 2b 0 0 0

Cox, ph 1 0 0 0

Totals 19 2 3 2 Totals 25 13 13 9

Skowhegan 110 00 – 2

Bangor 11(11) 0x – 13

E-Vigue, Sylvain; Kelley, Edwards; LOB-Skowhegan 3, Bangor 2; 2B-Edwards, Webb; 3B-Vanidestine; S-McDade; SF-Edwards; SB-Calder; Vanidestine 2, Walton, Edwards, Crews

Skowhegan IP H R ER BB SO

Sylvain (L, 2-3) 2 1/3 9 10 7 0 1

Williamson 1 2/3 4 3 0 0 1

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Clarke (W, 7-0) 5 3 2 1 1 4

WP-Williamson; T-1:15; ATT-350 (est.)