OLD TOWN – It’s one thing to get the game-winning hit. It’s another to make a game-saving catch.

Caribou High School junior right fielder Chad McCarthy accomplished both feats Thursday to give the Vikings a 3-2 victory over Old Town and a split of their doubleheader.

In the opener, senior second baseman Jason Smith’s run-scoring single with two outs in the sixth inning supplied the Coyotes with a 4-3 triumph.

Both teams turned in some fielding gems in the well-played twinbill.

Caribou rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the nightcap.

McCarthy’s decisive single followed an Eric Brown single, a flyout, a fielder’s choice by Seth Sager and a base hit by winning pitcher Philip St. Peter.

McCarthy grounded Cory Wasson’s 0-1 pitch up the middle, and it glanced off the second base bag.

“I was trying to hit the ball into a gap to get the run home,” said McCarthy. “But it wound up going up the middle.”

In the bottom of the seventh, St. Peter issued a one-out walk to Smith after having retired the previous nine hitters.

Smith stole second and went to third on a groundout before Dana Leland’s sinking liner was snared knee-high by the sliding McCarthy.

“It was tailing, but I got a good jump on it,” said McCarthy.

“I thought it was going to be a tie game,” said St. Peter.

Leland agreed.

“He made a great diving play,” said Leland.

Old Town took a 2-0 lead with single runs in the first and second innings, but the Coyotes stranded five runners in scoring position through the first three innings.

Smith walked, stole second and scored on Leland’s single to center in the first, and consecutive singles by Wasson, Colin Ziegenbein and Kevin Demmons loaded the bases with no outs in the second before Tyler Cates hit a run-scoring single with one out.

Caribou tied it in the fourth on an infield error, singles by Jon Noyes and Eric Brown (RBI) and Mike Doucette’s long sacrifice fly to center.

St. Peter went the distance for the win, striking out three and walking two while allowing eight hits and two runs. He got better as the game progressed.

“They were hitting my fastball early, so I mixed in more curves and splitters,” said St. Peter.

Old Town’s Josh Coffin said St. Peter threw more curves as the game wore on and he had the Coyotes “popping up and grounding out.”

Pat Thibodeau, Noyes and Brown had two hits each for Caribou with Leland and Cates having two each for Old Town.

In the opener, Smith roped a 2-0 pitch from St. Peter into left field to deliver Ziegenbein, who had singled and gone to third on Cates’ base hit.

St. Peter had come on in relief at the outset of the inning.

“I knew I was going to get a fastball because I knew he didn’t want to throw junk and fall behind 3-0,” said Smith.

Nick Standley singled home a first-inning run for Old Town and Leland singled home runs in the third and fifth.

Caribou scored twice in the second on Doucette’s long RBI double to left and Justin McLauchlan’s RBI single.

They tied it on a botched rundown in the sixth.

Freshman righty Casey Estes went the distance for the win, striking out three and walking one while allowing nine hits and three runs.

“I was happy. I kept the ball low. I threw fastballs and mixed in some curves and cutters,” said Estes, who received a highlight-reel 6-4-3 double play in which Smith grabbed the toss from shortstop Zak Kochis barehanded and threw to first while running across the bag.

“He showed a lot of composure for a freshman, and we played great defense,” said OT coach Dave Utterback.

Caribou outfielders Thibodeau and McCarthy gunned runners down at the plate.

Cates, Standley and Leland had two hits each for Old Town while Noyes and Doucette had two each for the Vikings.

lmahoney@bangordailynews.net

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