Brewer beats up Bangor Falcons’ Nicknair strong after shaky first inning

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BREWER – Jim Nicknair’s worst pitch of his American Legion baseball season debut may also have been the best thing to happen to him Tuesday night.

The Brewer lefthander yielded a two-run home run to Gordie Webb in the top of the first inning, then limited Bangor to just one more run during a six-inning performance as the Falcons opened their Zone 1 schedule with a 15-3 victory over the Comrades at Heddericg Field.

“To be honest I was real nervous at the beginning,” said Nicknair, who saw limited duty this spring as a freshman at the University of Southern Maine. “I haven’t pitched in a game really since March. As soon as Gordie hit that ball over the fence, that just knocked the jitters right out of me. I was like, ‘no more jitters, it was time to pitch.'”

Nicknair struck out seven and walked three while throwing just 88 pitches before giving way to Pat McEwen, who pitched a 1-2-3 seventh.

“Jimmy’s a competitor, and he’s been looking forward to this for about a month,” said Brewer coach Dave Morris. “The first inning Gordie got hold of one, and as a pitcher if you haven’t worked for a while you might second-guess yourself, but I think Jimmy really battled back.”

Brewer, which had its first six games postponed while the Brewer High team advanced to the Class A state final, also pounded out 15 hits against four Bangor pitchers.

Eric White tripled, doubled and singled and scored three runs for the Falcons, while Cam Wadleigh doubled and singled twice with two RBIs, Prentiss Swett added three singles and Chase Daniels added a double, single and two RBIs.

“We were just fortunate to have that kind of night when guys saw the ball well and hit the ball well,” said Morris.

Shane Walton and Devin Lyshon each doubled for 4-2 Bangor, which was playing its fifth game in the last four days and has star pitcher-infielder Ian Edwards available only for pinch-hitting duty as he recovers from a hamstring injury.

“I thought we hit the ball hard, and there were times when we had the bases loaded and had two of our better hitters up and we don’t get a hit,” said Bangor coach Fred Lower. “But that’s baseball, that happens sometimes.

“We’re going to put this behind us. We want to compete every inning, and we saw some times when we didn’t compete real hard and that’s going to end. But these guys are very competitive, so I’m sure that won’t happen any more.”

Webb, who just finished his freshman year at Bates College, gave Bangor a 2-0 lead by lofting a first-pitch fastball over the right-center field fence.

“Normally I start off Gordie with a curveball,” said Nicknair, “but I figured I’d try something different and I just left it over the middle and he’s a good hitter.”

Brewer reached Bangor starter Jordan Clarke for five runs in the third, a rally that featured a two-run single by Daniels and a two-run double to left-center by Wadleigh.

Brewer made it 7-3 with two runs in the fourth. Rick Adams doubled and scored on a triple to right by White, and White scored two outs later on a ground single to left by Daniels.

The Falcons sent 14 batters to the plate in the sixth, with two-run triples by Billy Bissell and Eddie Robbins highlighting an eight-run outburst.

eclark@bangordailynews.net

990-8045

FALCONS 15, COMRADES 3

Bangor (4-2) Brewer (1-0)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Vanidestine, cf 4 0 0 0 Adams, 2b 4 0

Kelley, ss 3 1 1 0 White, lf 3 3 1

Webb, c 3 1 1 2 French, lf 1 0 0

Walton, 3b 3 1 1 0 Maguire, 3b 3 2 1

Lyshon, 1b 2 0 1 1 Swett, 1b 4 2 1

Savage, lf 3 0 0 0 Daniels, rf 3 1 3

Clarke, p 1 0 0 0 Bissell, rf 1 1 2

Reese, p 1 0 0 0 Thoms, dh 3 1 0

Gray, p 0 0 0 0 Nicknair, p 0 0 0

Taft, p 0 0 0 0 Higgins, ph 0 1 0

Larochelle, rf 3 0 1 0 McEwen, p 0 0

Susi, 2b 1 0 0 0 Wadleigh, c 4 0 2

Edwards, ph 1 0 0 0 Desjardins, pr 0 0 0

McInnis, ph 1 0 0 0 Bush, c 0 0 0 0

Smith, ss 2 1 0 1

Kotredes, ph 1 0 0 0

Robbins, cf 4 1 1 2

Totals 26 3 5 3 Totals 33 15 15 13

Bangor 200 100 0 – 3

Brewer 005 208 x -15

E-Reese; Smith; LOB-Bangor 5, Brewer 9; 2B-Walton, Lyshon; White, Wadleigh; 3B-Adams, Bissell, Robbins; HR-Webb; SB-Swett, Desjardins

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Clarke (L,.1-1) 3 7 7 7 4 2

Reese 2 4 5 5 1 2

Gray 2/3 4 3 3 2 1

Taft 1/3 0 0 0 1 1

Brewer IP H R ER BB SO

Nicknair (W, 1-0) 6 5 3 2 3 7

McEwen 1 0 0 0 0 0

WP-Clarke, Reese; PB-Webb 2; T-2:20; ATT-150 (est.)