BELFAST – If the youthful Camden Hills Windjammers end up making any noise in the upcoming playoffs, Monday afternoon’s game against Belfast will be looked at as the catalyst.

Sophomore starting pitcher Pat Aylward and freshman catcher Tom Dennen helped the Windjammers come of age as Aylward pitched a four-hitter to upset Belfast 3-1 on a bright, blustery afternoon at Belfast High School.

Aylward ignored the dust devils and mini tempests which whipped up instant dust storms around the baseball diamond, walking three batters and striking out five as he held the Lions to one earned run.

“I felt good because I just got rocked by Maranacook last time out and the second I stepped on the field, I knew I was gonna throw hard and have a great game,” said Aylward, now 3-1 this season.

Meanwhile, his Windjammers took advantage of early defensive miscues by Belfast to score the two unearned runs which were the difference in the game.

Lions righthander Ben Cowan was saddled with his first loss this season despite pitching a four-hitter with seven strikeouts, one walk, and one earned run.

“Pat was changing speeds well. His curve was working real well and, with this wind, the knuckleball was effective. He just kept them off-balance,” said first-year Camden coach Matt Dennen. “Both pitchers pitched well. We just made fewer mistakes.”

After Cowan retired the game’s first two hitters on a flyout and strikeout, Camden’s Brian Fitzpatrick reached on a two-base throwing error. He went to third on Abe Dugal’s single and scored as the ball skipped under and behind the left fielder.

“We run a little hot and cold. We had three games we didn’t make an error, but lately it’s been hurting us a bit,” said coach George Ross, whose Lions are now 7-3. “We’re a young team with three seniors, so we expected that.”

The Windjammers, now 6-5, are even younger with only two seniors, five juniors, two sophomores, and a freshman in the starting lineup (including the designated hitter).

“After going 1-3 last week, this is very big. It could be a big turning point for us, especially after a tough loss to MCI Saturday,” said Dennen, who credited Aylward’s change of speeds and good location for foiling the Belfast bats.

Belfast tied the game in the third after Kevin Gray drew a one-out walk. Cowan’s single on a textbook hit-and-run play put runners at the corners and Gray then scored on Matt Woodrow’s groundout.

The ‘Jammers took the lead back again with a leadoff walk, a sacrifice bunt, a Dennen single, and Dustin O’Brien’s RBI groundout in the fourth. They added an insurance run in the fifth on Tom Massey’s leadoff single, a sacrifice, and Dugal’s RBI groundout.

“We hadn’t been hitting the ball too well lately, so I thought we’d play a little small ball today, dropping bunts down and playing hit and run,” coach Matt Dennen said.

Pitching so dominated the 87-minute game that there were no extra-base hits.

“We didn’t get the big hit and afterwards we were talking about pitch selection because we had four guys who struck out looking,” said a frustrated Ross.

Windjammers 3, Lions 1

Camden Hills (6-5) Belfast (7-3)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R BI

Moro, cf 4 0 0 0 Gray, 2b 3 1 0

Massey, lf 4 1 1 0 Cowan, p 3 0 0

Fitzpatrick 3b 2 1 0 0 Woodrow, 3b 3 1

Dugal, ss 3 0 1 1 Herbig, cf 3 0 0

Butler, dh 2 1 0 0 Potvin, c 3 0 0

W.Dennen, 1b 2 0 1 0 Johnson, dh 1 0 0

T.Dennen, c 3 0 1 0 a-Arthers 0 0 0

O’Brien, rf 2 0 0 1 Johnson, lf 3 0 0

b-Ribeck 1 0 0 0 Larsen, rf 2 0 0

Peck, 2b 3 0 0 0 c-Bogen 1 0 0 0

Olson, 1b 3 0 0 0

Totals 26 3 4 2 Totals 25 1 1

a-ran for Johnson in sixth, b-flied out for O’Brien in sixth, c-grounded out for Larsen in sixth

Camden Hills 100 110 0 ? 3

Belfast 001 000 0 ? 1

E? Dugal; Woodrow 2, Arthers, Johnson; LOB? Camden Hills 5, Belfast 7; DP? Gray-Olson; SB? Massey; Johnson, Gray; S? Dennen, Fitzpatrick; Johnson

Camden Hills IP H R ER BB SO

Aylward (W, 3-1) 7 4 1 1 3 5

Belfast IP H R ER BB SO

Cowan (L, 4-1) 7 4 3 1 1 7

WP? Cowan; PB? Potvin; T? 1:27; ATT? 74