PORTLAND – Jarrett Lukas left quite a mark on the Maine high school baseball world with his stellar play at Old Town High School in recent years.
The 2007 Maine Gatorade Player of the Year spread his baseball legacy beyond the state’s borders Monday afternoon, leading Maine to a 7-5 victory over New Hampshire in the second annual Maine-New Hampshire senior all-star game at Hadlock Field.
Lukas, who will play at the University of Maine next season, hit a triple, double and single and drove in three runs.
“It was just an honor to play in this game,” said Lukas, who batted .487 during the high school season while leading Old Town to a 14-5 record and a berth in the Eastern Maine Class A semifinals. “This was so much fun, all the guys here were just awesome. I love playing with talent like this, it’s a real privilege.”
In the second game, the West defeated the East 10-7 in the fourth Maine Underclass All-Star Game.
In the first game, the strong-armed Lukas also starred defensively with six assists at shortstop, including one as part of a double play that cut short a seventh-inning rally by New Hampshire.
“The field is like playing on turf,” said Lukas, a finalist for Maine’s 2007 Mr. Baseball, which will be announced Friday. “After playing at Old Town where you don’t know where the hops are, playing here is like taking balls off the gym floor.”
Bucksport’s Chris Maguire added three singles and an RBI for Maine, while Brewer lefthander Jim Nicknair earned the pitching win with two innings of one-hit, one-run relief as Maine avenged a 21-8 loss in last year’s game, which was played in Manchester, N.H.
“Coming into this we thought we were going to lose because last year New Hampshire whooped up on Maine,” said catcher Gordon Webb, a Mr. Baseball finalist from Bangor who will play at Bates College in Lewiston next season. “But we ended up on top, so that’s good, too.”
Trailing 4-3, Maine took the lead for good with four runs on four hits and two New Hampshire outfield errors in the bottom of the seventh. Mr. Baseball finalist Joe Douglass of Poland drew a one-out walk and scored the tying run when Ethan Guerrette of Oak Hill of Sabattus doubled to left and reached third on an outfield error.
Lukas doubled to right to drive home Guerrette with what proved to be the winning run, then scored when Noah Burke of Camden Hills of Rockport singled to left. Burke stole second and, after a walk to Joel Neill of Hampden Academy, scored when a single by Todd Keneburous of Cheverus of Portland was misplayed in the outfield.
New Hampshire reached Maine reliever Kevin Chamberlain for a run in the eighth, but the Scarborough righthander retired the side in order in the ninth to earn the save.
“The main thing was to have fun,” Lukas said, “and just to let the game play itself out.”
Lukas also struck the game’s first major blow, a one-out, 385-foot RBI triple to center that gave Maine a 1-0 first-inning lead. That blast, well beyond the reach of shallow-playing center fielder Matt Levine, easily scored Douglass, who had drawn a leadoff walk.
“I didn’t think I got all of it, but I got a good piece of it,” said Lukas.
New Hampshire 000 300 100 – 5 3 4
Maine 100 110 40x – 7 9 1
K. Davis, Roberge (2), Nolan (3), Schopick (4), Levine (4), White (5), Lausberg (6), McManus (7), R. Davis (7), Caron (8) and Davidson, Modugno (4), Delaney (6); Jillson, Boyle (2), Siviski (4), Douglass (5), Nicknair (6), Chamberlain (8) and Webb, Lancisi (4), Burke (7)
West wins underclass game
The youth that served Deering of Portland so well during its run to the 2007 Class A baseball state championship helped the West defeat the East 10-7 in the Underclass All-Star Game.
Deering sophomores Jack Heary, Regan Flaherty and Matt Watson combined to go 7-for-11 with six RBIs in this annual showcase of the state’s top freshmen, sophomores and juniors. Heary, a center fielder, led the West with a triple, two singles and five RBIs, while Flaherty and Watson each singled twice.
Kyle Stilphen of Gardiner led the East’s eight-hit attack with a double and a single, while Bucksport’s Eddie Robbins and Bangor’s Ian Edwards and Shane Walton each had a double.
The East took its only lead at 4-3 in the top of the seventh when Lucas Marks of George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill grounded an RBI single up the middle to drive home John Flynn of Lawrence of Fairfield to break a 3-3 tie.
The West countered with four runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 7-4 advantage, as Christian Hamilton of Westbrook hit a two-out RBI single to highlight the rally
The East quickly responded in the top of the eighth. Skowhegan’s Cody Vigue walked, then Edwards doubled off the Maine Monster fence in left field. Lewiston’s Eddie Watt hit a fielder’s choice as Vigue was thrown out at the plate, but Edwards scored as Walton reached on an infield error.
After Josh Astbury of George Stevens flied out, Bangor’s Kyle Vanidestine grounded a single off the gloves of both West pitcher Forrest Dwyer of Winthrop and second baseman Justin Staires of Mountain Valley of Rumford to plate Watt and cut the deficit 7-6.
But the West put the game away with three runs in its half of the eighth, with Heary hitting an RBI triple to center and scoring on an infield hit by Matt Leach of Thornton Academy in Saco to spark the uprising.
East 002 001 121 – 7 8 4
West 300 000 430 – 10 16 6
Longley, Adams (2), Astbury (3), Vigue (4), Farrar (5), Kelley (6), Stilphen (7), Watt (8), Edwards (9) and Marks, Wadleigh (4), Verrier (7); Candage, Leach (2), McCray (3), Laubaskas (4), Fuery (5), Hamilton (6), Ellis (7), Dwyer (8), Chase (9) and Norton, Watson (4), Bourassa (7)
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