December 23, 2024
SENIOR LEAGUE BASEBALL WORLD SER

Strong start sparks Bangor Hackett, McInnis help lead team by Philippines

BANGOR – District 3 champion and host Bangor stranded seven baserunners in a Senior League World Series-opening 7-2 loss to the Whalley Chiefs from Surrey, British Columbia, Sunday and knew they needed to do a better job hitting in the clutch on Monday against Asia Pacific titlist Makati City, Philippines.

They certainly did.

Bangor parlayed four hits, a walk and a botched fielder’s choice into five first-inning runs en route to a four and a half-inning 14-1 triumph.

The hosts had 11 hits in four innings and stole six bases. Bangor went 8-for-16 with men in scoring position.

Bangor is now 1-1 in Pool A play while Makati City is 0-2.

“We left a lot of people on base against Canada and we wanted to make sure we didn’t do it again,” said Bangor left fielder and leadoff hitter Lonnie Hackett, who had a pair of singles, drove in two runs and stole two bases.

“The bats really came alive today,” said shortstop Cody McInnis, who had a two-run single in the first inning. “We didn’t have that good an offensive day [Sunday] so it was nice to put 11 hits on the board tonight.”

Bangor also received an impressive five-inning performance from lefty Nate Lewis, who allowed five hits and one run with two strikeouts and two walks.

“I had my curve working and that’s usually my main pitch. I felt pretty good tonight,” said Lewis, who also mixed in his fastball and occasionally dropped to the side with both.

“I watched them against Hawaii [a 5-3 loss] on Sunday and they didn’t seem to be able to hit the curve. So I came ready to throw it,” added Lewis, who threw 80 pitches including 45 strikes.

“Nate was awesome. That’s the best game he’s pitched all year,” said left fielder Ryan Larochelle, who hit a two-run double in the first.

Bangor put five runs on the board before Makati City could register an out.

Hackett reached on an infield hit, a little roller down the third base line, to open the first and promptly stole second.

Lewis walked and Tyler Desjardins bounced an RBI single over third baseman Gerald Mitra’s head. When the ball was misplayed in left, the runners moved up to second and third.

Devin Lyshon grounded to short but Lewis never broke to the plate and Desjardins went full speed into third. Shortstop Mark Ong threw to the plate and catcher Adrian Bernardo threw to third but both runners returned to their bases safely.

Larochelle hit a fly ball to center that was misjudged and drifted away from center fielder Yusuke Kuroda for a two-run double.

“[Losing pitcher Indigo Olivares] threw me a high fastball,” said Larochelle.

McInnis followed by lining a fastball into left center to drive in the final two runs of the inning.

“I fought off a couple of pitches I didn’t like and they he finally brought me one down the middle and I felt like I could handle it,” said McInnis, whose hit chased Olivares in favor of Gerald Mitra.

“It was nice to be able to jump on them early because they like to play small ball and when we put a five-spot on them in the first, that took them out of their game,” said Hackett.

Olivares said he didn’t put his pitches where he wanted to.

“My fastball was a bit high and I was supposed to keep it low,” said Olivares. “I was trying to keep it low. My location wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be.”

“Once we fell behind [5-0], it was hard for us to recover,” said Makati City’s Ong.

He noted that they hit a lot of balls hard but they wound up going right to Bangor fielders.

“Tough breaks,” Ong said.

Hackett’s two-run single capped a four-run third inning and Kyle Savage’s two-run double highlighted a five-run fourth.

Desjardins, Lyshon and Savage joined Hackett with two hits apiece while Carlos Laurel and Kevin Ramos paced Makati City with fourth-inning doubles.

Bangor has the day off today, but resumes tourney play Wednesday against U.S. South at 5 p.m.

lmahoney@bangordailynews.net

990-8231

MAINE DISTRICT 3 14, ASIA PACIFIC 1 (5 inn.)

Asia Pacific (record) Bangor (record)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Bernardo, c-3b-p 2 0 1 0 Hackett, lf 3 2

Kuroda, cf 2 0 0 0 Farnham, lf 1 0 1

Ordrik, cf 1 0 0 0 Lewis, p 3 1 0

Ong, ss 2 0 0 0 Desjardin, cf 3 1 1

Laurel, 2b 3 1 1 0 Lyshon, 2b 3 2 1

Mitra, p-3b-rf 2 0 1 0 R. Larochelle, 3b 2

Olivares, p 0 0 0 0 McInnis, ss 1 2 2

Ramos, 3b-p 2 0 1 1 J. Larochelle, c 2 0

Tan, 1b 2 0 0 0 Savage, 1b 3 2 2

Esguerra, 1b 0 0 0 0 Stanevicz, rf-pr 2 1

Disini, rf 2 0 0 0 Kelley, rf 0 0 1

Lamotan, rf 0 0 0 0

Martinz-Mirnda, lf 1 0 1 0

Cabigon, c 1 0 0 0

Totals 20 1 5 1 Totals 23 14 11 13

Asia Pacific 000 10 – 1

Bangor 504 50 – 14

E-Martinez-Miranda, Mitra; LOB-Bangor 3; Asia Pacific 6; 2B-Laurel, Ramos; Lyshon, R. Larochelle, Savage; SF-Kelley; SB-Bernardo; Hackett 2, Stanevicz 2, McInnis, R. Larochelle

Asia Pacific IP H R ER BB SO

Olivares (L) 0 4 5 5 1 0

Mitra 3 3 4 4 2 4

Bernardo 0 2 4 4 2 0

Ramos 1 2 1 1 0 1

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Lewis (W) 5 5 1 1 2 2

WP-Lewis; BK-Mitra (2); T-1:48; ATT-850


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