March 28, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Perry, Potter boost Hermon> Hit-and-run gives Hawks lead

HERMON – The hit-and-run was on but Justin Perry took it one step further.

Hermon High School’s senior catcher belted a two-run homer on a hit-and-run with two outs in the first inning and senior designated hitter Scott Potter hit a two-run single in the third inning to lead Hermon to a 5-2 win over Blue Hill’s George Stevens Academy Friday.

Junior righthander Eric Reynolds went the distance for the win, scattering eight hits and six walks. He stranded 11 runners including seven in scoring position.

He fanned five and threw 69 strikes among his 127 pitches.

Perry’s first homer of the year erased a 1-0 deficit and gave the 10-4 Hawks a lead they would never relinquish. It followed a walk to Mark Alaimo.

“He [Josh Sadlier] threw me a hanging curve. I knew I hit it well but I didn’t know it was gone until I went around second,” said Perry, whose blast carried over the 375-foot sign in center field.

The Hawks made it 5-1 in the third.

John Schoppe and Alaimo triggered the rally with a looping one-out singles to left and right, respectively.

Perry then hit a little fly into center field that dropped among three fielders. Center fielder Chad Mattson threw to second baseman Toby Cole at second in plenty of time to force Alaimo but the stunned Cole held the ball for a second and then applied a late tag instead of stepping on the bag.

“I thought the throw was going to third. I never expected it,” said Cole.

Potter then lined the next pitch to center field for his two-run single.

“I had it in my mind that I was going to swing at the first pitch if it was anywhere in the strike zone,” said Potter. “He threw me a fastball right down the middle.”

“Scott is a great story,” said Hermon coach Dave Morris. “He got cut as a freshman, played JV as a sophomore and played very little on the varsity last year. Now he’s the starting DH.”

Chambers put a perfectly-placed bunt down the third-base line to score Perry.

The Eagles had a great opportunity to claw back into the game in the fourth as they strung together five straight singles. But they scored just once as a baserunning mistake proved costly.

One-out singles by Toby Cole and Jason Shook were followed by Jeremy Byrd’s bad-hop RBI single to left. On the throw to the plate, Shook tried to go to third but catcher Perry threw to third and he was called out by base ump Chris Parker.

Two more singles loaded the bases but Reynolds fanned Mattson with a curve to get out of it.

“My fastball was my best pitch but my curve worked a couple of times,” said Reynolds. “I tried to keep them off balance.”

“He didn’t throw many curves but he got some key outs with it when he needed to,” said GSA coach Danny Kane. “We just couldn’t get any big hits.”

“He mixed his pitches up well,” said GSA first baseman and No. 3 hitter Chris Pickering. “He gave me only one good pitch to hit and I didn’t swing.”

Dave Rackliffe’s RBI infield single had staked GSA to a short-lived 1-0 lead in the first.

Schoppe and Chambers had two hits each for Hermon and Seth Cole had two for 8-5 GSA.

Sadlier pitched a strong nine-hitter in defeat with five strikeouts and one walk.

Hawks 5, Eagles 2

George Stevens (8-5) Hermon (10-4)

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

S. Cole, ss 2 0 2 0 Martin, lf 4 0 1 0

Mattson, cf 4 1 0 0 Schoppe, 2b 4 1 2 0

Pickering, 1b 3 0 0 0 Alaimo, cf 2 2 1 0

Rackliffe, dh 3 0 1 1 Perry, c 3 2 1 2

Wessel, 3b 0 0 0 0 Potter, dh 3 0 1 2

a-Malinowski 0 0 0 0 C. Reynolds, rf 0 0 0 0

Sadlier, p 3 0 1 0 Chambers, 3b 3 0 2 1

T. Cole, 2b 4 1 1 0 Smith, 1b 3 0 0 0

Shook, lf 3 0 1 0 E. Reynolds, p 3 0 0 0

Byrd, c 3 0 1 1 Hunt, ss 3 0 1 0

Marancik, rf 3 0 1 0

Totals 28 2 8 2 Totals 28 5 9 5

a-ran for Rackliffe in 5th inning

GSA 100 100 0 – 2

Hermon 203 000 x – 5

E – T. Cole, Chambers HR – Perry (1) LOB – George Stevens 11, Hermon 6 DP – Martin-Hunt-Schoppe-Smith SB – Mattson

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

GSA

Sadlier (L,6-2) 6 9 5 4 1 5

Hermon

E. Reynolds(W,3-1) 7 8 2 2 6 5

WP – E. Reynolds TIME – 2:01 ATTENDANCE – 62


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