Brewer rolls past Eagles for 10th win Higgins, White, Bissell help Witches stand out

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BREWER – A 10-1 record suggests the Brewer baseball team has played at a high level throughout the season.

But Friday night’s performance against Messalonskee of Oakland may have been the Witches’ best effort yet.

Greg Higgins pitched a six-hitter, his teammates played errorless defense and and Eric White and Bill Bissell each had three hits and three RBIs as Brewer earned a six-inning, 11-1 victory at Heddericg Field.

“What we saw tonight is a product of great, hard work,” said Brewer coach Dave Morris. “We’re pretty demanding as far as length of practices and time, and our kids really have responded to that and done a great job for us.”

Higgins, a senior righthander, epitomized that efficiency as he struck out seven and walked no one while requiring just 81 pitches.

“I guess I kept them off-balance for a while and the defense played an amazing game,” said Higgins. “This whole year I’ve definitely been able to count on the fact that whenever I throw a pitch that the defense is going to back me up.”

Junior catcher Jon Thoms set the tone defensively, throwing out Messalonskee’s Ray Bernier as he attempted to steal second after leading off the game with a ground single up the middle.

“Our team defense has been the most improved part of our game,” said White, who was making his first start of the spring at third base.

Brewer had 10 hits against three Messalonskee pitchers, with White hitting a triple and two singles and Bissell adding three singles, three runs scored and three stolen bases.

Thoms contributed two singles, while Chase Daniels doubled and Prentiss Swett hit a two-run single.

Brewer did not have a baserunner in the first two innings against Messalonskee’s Chris Farrar but broke through against the righthander for three runs in the bottom of the third inning and four more runs in the fourth to break the game open.

Swett’s two-run opposite-field single to right and an RBI single to center by White fueled the third-inning uprising.

A sacrifice fly by Shun Sasaki followed by an RBI triple to left by White and a run-scoring double to right by Daniels were key moments in the Brewer fourth.

“We really had a great deal of respect for [Farrar],” said Morris. “We knew he was going to be a pitcher who was around the plate with everything, but the kids did a heck of a job of staying back and taking what he gave us.”

Messalonskee (4-7) scored its run in the top of the fourth when Andy Breton singled to center, stole second and scored on Nick Curato’s one-out single up the middle.

Brewer added two runs in the fifth to make it 9-1 before Bissell’s two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the sixth ended the game under the 10-run rule.

“We’re playing pretty well right now,” said White. “It’s good for us, but we’ve got to take it one game at a time and just keep going forward.”

eclark@bangordailynews.net

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WITCHES 10, EAGLES 1

(Friday Night, 6 innings)

Messalonskee (4-7) Brewer (10-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Bernier, 2b 3 0 1 0 White, 3b 4 2 3

Breton, 1b-p-rf 3 1 1 0 Daniels, lf 2 1

Bouchard, rf-p 2 0 0 0 Swett, 1b 3 2

Jacobs, ph 1 0 0 0 Higgins, p 3 1 0

Curato, cf 3 0 1 1 Thoms, c 3 1 0

Stuart, 3b 3 0 1 0 Hutchins, pr 0 1 0

Dumont, dh 2 0 0 0 Smith, ss 4 1 0

Hall, c 0 0 0 0 Burnham, dh 3 1 0

Farrar, p-1b 2 0 2 0 O’Connell, 2b 0 0 0

Gilbert, ss 1 0 0 0 Bissell, rf 3 3 3

Guerrette, lf 2 0 0 0 Sasaki, cf 1 1

Sucy, lf 0 0 0 0

Totals 22 1 6 1 Totals 26 11 10 10

Messalonskee 000 100 – 1

Brewer 003 422 – 11

LOB-Messalonskee 4, Brewer 8; 2B-Daniels; 3B-White; S-Gilbert; SF-Sasaki; SB-Breton; Bissell 3, White, Daniels, Thoms, Hutchins, Smith

Messalonskee IP H R ER BB SO

Farrar (L, 1-4) 3 2/3 5 7 7 2 5

Breton 1 1/3 3 2 2 4 0

Bouchard 1/3 2 2 2 2 0

Brewer IP H R ER BB SO

Higgins (W, 4-0) 6 6 1 1 0 7

WP-Breton 2, Farrar; BK-Breton; T-1:56; ATT-100 (est.)