Rams erase 4-0 deficit to tip Coyotes Bottom of the order comes through for Bangor

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BANGOR – The Bangor Rams compete with the self-assuredness of a team that hasn’t lost in more than a year – and needed that confidence Saturday to outlast Old Town 8-6 in an Eastern Maine Class A baseball semifinal at Mansfield Stadium.

Old Town, which lost 16-0 and 10-0 to Bangor earlier this season, took a 4-0 lead behind Maine Gatorade Player of the Year Jarrett Lukas before the defending state champions rallied during their second time around the batting order.

“Sometimes we jump on a pitcher early, but with good pitchers like Lukas it might take one time through and then the second time we know what he’s got, we know where he’s throwing his pitches and we pounce on him then,” said Bangor sophomore DH Ryan Larochelle, who had a double, triple and three RBIs from the No. 9 spot in the order.

Bangor scored five runs in the fourth and three runs in the fifth for junior righthander Ian Edwards, who struck out eight and walked one in a complete-game performance.

“Our kids have just been in so many big games, whether it’s football or basketball or even baseball last spring,” said Bangor coach Jeff Fahey. “They don’t panic.”

Top-ranked Bangor (18-0) extended its winning streak to 29 games overall, and will play No. 6 Brewer in Wednesday’s 5:30 p.m. EM final at Morton Field in Augusta. Brewer (13-6) advanced with a 9-2 win at No. 2 Gardiner.

No. 4 Old Town, which will move to Class B next spring, finishes 14-5.

Old Town scored its first run in 13 innings against Edwards this spring in the second. Dana Leland lined a single to center, then scored when Adam Fournier doubled to the right-center field gap.

The Coyotes extended their lead to 4-0 in the third. Dan LeBreton’s bloop single to right started the rally, and one out later, Tyler Cates put down a sacrifice bunt and reached base on a throwing error. Lukas was hit by a pitch to load the bases, but after Leland struck out Fournier went to the left-center field gap for a two-run double.

Lukas then scored on a wild pitch, and the Coyotes had a four-run lead.

“We made some plays early on that swung momentum toward us, and we put some pressure on them with guys on base,” said Old Town coach David Utterback. “Our game plan today wasn’t just going to be station to station. We knew we had to get some things going with Ian on the mound, and I told the guys to be very aggressive early in the count because we couldn’t let Ian control their at-bats. I thought our guys did a nice job carrying out that game plan.”

Enough so that rumblings of an upset in the making were making their way through the big crowd – but not through the Bangor dugout.

“I told the kids we weren’t going to start taking strikes, we weren’t going to take their aggressiveness away,” said Fahey. “We wanted to swing the bats but use discipline.”

Edwards and Gallant sent an instant message to open the Bangor fourth. Edwards ripping an 0-2 curveball high off the left-field fence for a double, and Gallant pulled the next pitch down the left-field line for an RBI double.

Gordon Webb then reached on an infield error and pinch-hitter Jordan Clarke drew a four-pitch walk before the bottom of the Bangor batting order performed cleanup duties, starting as No. 8 hitter John Cox popped the first pitch he saw into shallow left-center for a two-run single.

“The bases were loaded and we’re down by a few runs, so I just wanted to just make sure I put the ball in play and make something happen,” said Cox. “I had to do something there.”

Larochelle then took an outside fastball to the opposite field for RBI double to left-center before a popout and a walk to Shane Walton re-loaded the bases. Edwards then plated the go-ahead run with his second hit of the inning, a two-out infield single off Lukas’ leg that scored Cox from third and capped a five-run, five-hit inning.

“Down 4-0 I thought, ‘We’ve got to get going,'” said Gallant. “They’re a good team and we knew if they got ahead and got some momentum on their side that it would only favor them. We knew we weren’t out of it, we just got our bats going and tried to get on base anyway we could, and it worked out.”

Bangor added three runs after two outs in the fifth. Again Larochelle provided the key blow, a two-run triple to center that drove home pinch-runner Jimmy Burns – on after a leadoff single by Webb – and Cox, who reached on an infield error.

Kyle Vanidestine followed Larochelle’s hit with a first-pitch RBI single to left to extend Bangor’s lead to 8-4.

Old Town threatened late, scoring twice in the seventh on a two-run, two-out single by Leland. The Coyotes then sent the go-ahead run to the plate before Edwards struck out Fournier to end the game.

RAMS 8, COYOTES 6

Old Town (14-5) Bangor (18-0)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Honey, cf 4 1 2 0 Vanidestine, rf 4 0 1

Cates, lf 3 1 0 0 Walton, 3b 2 0 0

Lukas, p 2 1 0 0 Edwards, p 4 1 1

Leland, c 4 1 3 2 Gallant, lf 3 1 1

Ziegenbein, pr 0 0 0 0 Webb, c 4 1 0

A. Fournier, dh 4 0 2 3 Burns, pr 0 0

C. Fournier, rf 0 0 0 0 Crews, cf 4 0

Smith, 2b 3 0 0 0 McDade, 1b 3 0 0

Getchell, 1b 3 0 0 0 Clarke, ph 0 1 0

Paradis, ss 2 1 0 0 Cox, ss 4 2 1 2

LeBreton, 3b 3 1 1 0 R. Larochelle, dh 3 3

Kelley, 2b 0 0 0 0

Totals 28 6 8 5 Totals 31 8 11 8

Old Town 013 000 0 – 4

Bangor 000 530 x – 8

E-Paradis, LeBreton 2; Webb; LOB-Old Town 5, Bangor 9; 2B-A. Fournier 2; Gallant 2, Edwards, R. Larochelle; 3B-R. Larochelle; DP- Bangor 1; S-Cates; SB-Crews

Old Town IP H R ER BB SO

Lukas (L, 5-3) 6 11 8 3 4 6

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Edwards (W, 8-0) 7 8 6 3 1 8

HBP-Lukas (by Edwards), Paradis (by Edwards); WP-Edwards; PB-Leland; T-1:54; ATT-850 (est.)