March 28, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Defense aids teams in Zone 1> Trenton, Orono post wins in losers’ bracket

SANFORD – While hitting and pitching will no doubt grab most of the attention in Monday’s box scores, it was the defense up the middle that allowed both Orono and Trenton to extend their stays at the American Legion State Baseball Tournament.

While the first day of elimination games claimed teams from Zone 2 and 3, both Zone 1 entries stayed alive at least one more day at a sunny Goodall Park. Orono downed Franklin County 12-2 in eight innings Sunday morning and Trenton followed with an 8-7 comeback victory over New Auburn early in the afternoon.

The 20-6 Twins will take on Augusta in a 3:30 p.m. elimination game Monday. Cumberland defeated Augusta 6-5 Sunday night in a winners’ bracket game.

The 19-8 Acadians will play Zone 3 champ Oxford Hills, a 15-9 loser to Andrews, in a 12:30 p.m. elimination game Monday.

On Sunday afternoon, Trenton starter Adam Meyer barely survived a rough start as Franklin tagged him for six runs in the first two innings, but settled down in the middle innings and survived a sixth-inning jam thanks to a little help from his friends.

Keyed by the two-way play of shortstop Seth Cole (2-for-4, 2 RBIs), center fielder Rick McDonald (two runs, three steals) and first baseman Mike Sirois, the Acadians held Franklin in check the rest of the way while slowly chipping away at the six-run lead.

After Trenton got within two runs (6-4) in the fifth, Franklin threatened to get those runs back and more in the sixth. Derek MacIntosh’s single sandwiched between two Meyer strikeouts didn’t appear ominous, but a walk followed by two straight singles made it 7-4 Franklin with the bases loaded.

Cole tracked down a sharp grounder to his left, but he had to rush his throw to first and threw it low. Sirois not only handled the tough bounce, but stretched all of his 76 inches of height to get the ball in the glove a split-second before the runner hit the bag.

If that wasn’t enough, Sirois delivered the game-tying/winning hit in the seventh to cap a four-run rally.

After McDonald led off with a walk, stole second, and went to third on a wild throw to second, Cole singled him home. Meyer then reached on an error and, a strikeout later, went to second on an infield single by Ben Donaldson, who had perhaps the at-bat of the game by fouling off four consecutive 1-2 pitches before his hit to the hole on the right side.

A passed ball scored Cole and moved the other runners to second and third. A flyout later, it was up to Sirois, who broke an 0-for-6 tourney drought with a single to straightaway center on a 1-2 fastball.

“I had a rough game yesterday and today I was 0-for-2 with no real confidence really, but that hit really gives me some,” said the first-year Legion player.

Sirois’ hit capped the second major comeback in the last four games for Trenton, who overcame a seven-run deficit to get into the state tourney.

“Boy oh boy, I wish we could get on some teams early because we’re making things difficult, but we stuck together, got good pitching out of Adam, the defense held up, and we got the timely hits we needed,” said an elated Seth Cole.

Trenton catcher Mike Worcester threw out a New Auburn runner at third to foil a game-tying situation by New Auburn.

“Today we had a big lead we couldn’t hold,” said New Auburn coach Bruce Lucas. “We made too many mistakes and we didn’t deserve to win.

“We let them back in the game and their pitcher turned it u “We let them back in the game and their pitcher turned it up a notch after we should have knocked him out of the game.”

Sunday morning, David Means and Aaron Turcotte almost single-handedly made sure Orono would stick around a little longer without having to get up early for the third straight day.

Means and Turcotte went a combined 4-for-9 at the plate, but it was their defense that made life difficult for Franklin batters and baserunners. It was after Orono took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth that made their defensive presence known in a big way.

After Turcotte retired the leadoff batter on a foul-out behind the plate in the midst of what resembled an unkept sand trap full of rocks and pebbles, Means made the first highlight-reel play with a diving, one-handed grab of a hot shot up the middle, which he flicked from his glove to second baseman Chris Crockett for an inning-ending forceout at second.

Franklin mounted a big threat in the sixth with a textbook hit-and-run that put runners at first and third with no outs. That changed to runners at first and second with no outs after Brian Demshar’s RBI single to right. On a 1-0 pitch to Trevor Alexander, David Collins broke toward third on a steal attempt. Turcotte took the strike, popped up, and fired a strike to third baseman Darrin Daniels, who was waiting for Collinson as he slid into the bag.

Starting pitcher Jamie Kennedy (5-hitter, 7 strikeouts, 5 walks) then retired the next two batters to end the threat.

Flyers runners apparently didn’t learn their lesson as Keith Dexter was gunned down at second on a steal attempt in the seventh. Means closed the curtain on the defensive exhibition with a backhanded stab of a grounder up the middle in the eighth, a step on second for a forceout, and a throw to first for a 6-3 double play.

In the meantime, Orono’s bats woke up in the seventh and eighth with back-to-back five-run outbursts begun by – wanna guess? – Means.

“I think [defense] was our problem in our last game,” Means said. “Our defense wasn’t as solid as we needed. Today, we turned it up a notch and played great, and I think that’s what got our bats going.”

Twins 12, Flyers 2

(Sunday Morning)

Franklin County (14-13) Orono (20-6)

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Kamholtz, cf-lf 3 1 1 0 Hite, cf 5 0 0 0

Collinson, p-cf 4 0 1 0 Means, ss 4 2 2 0

Demshar, ss 3 0 1 1 Daniels, 3b 4 1 1 0

Alexander, 1b 3 1 1 0 Kennedy, p 2 3 1 1

Hodgkins, 3b 2 0 0 0 Civiello, lf 5 1 2 2

Crandall, rf 3 0 0 1 a-Donato 0 1 0 0

Dexter, lf 2 0 0 0 Allen, 1b 2 3 1 0

Mitchell, p 0 0 0 0 Cote, rf 4 1 3 2

Lesso, p 0 0 0 0 b-Montgomery 0 0 0 1

Bell, p 0 0 0 0 A. Turcotte, c 5 0 2 1

Whittier, c 3 0 1 0 Crockett, 2b 3 0 0 1

Holt, 2b 2 0 0 0 c-Perry 0 0 0 0

Totals 25 2 5 1 Totals 34 12 12 8

a-ran for Civiello in eighth

b-walked for Cote in eighth

c-pinch hit for Crockett in eighth

Franklin County 010 001 00 – 2

Orono 000 200 55 – 12

E – Collinson 2 2B – Civiello, Cote LOB -Franklin County 3, Orono 10 DP – Means-Allen SB – Holt 2; Cote, A. Turcotte, Means, Crockett S – Hodgkins SF – Crockett PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

Franklin

Collinson (L, 3-1) 6 1/3 7 6 5 6 4

Mitchell 2/3 2 1 1 0 0

Lesso 0 3 5 5 2 0

Bell 1/3 0 0 0 1 0

Orono

Kennedy (W, 7-0) 8 5 2 2 2 7

HBP – Dexter by Kennedy WP – Collinson 3, Mitchell, Bell; Kennedy 2 PB – Whittier TIME – 2:31 ATTENDANCE – 139

Acadians 8, New Auburn 7

(Sunday Afternoon)

New Auburn (18-7) Trenton (19-8)

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Brown, rf 4 1 2 0 McDonald, cf 2 2 1 0

Dumais, 2b 4 2 2 1 S. Cole, ss 4 2 2 2

Crrveau, ss-p 5 2 3 1 Meyer, p 5 1 0 0

Simard, 3b 4 0 1 2 Worcester, c 4 0 0 0

Lambert, p 2 1 0 0 Donaldson, lf 4 2 2 0

Stevens, ss 2 0 0 0 T. Cole, 2b 3 1 1 0

Barbarick, 1b 3 0 2 1 Sirois, 1b 3 0 1 2

Reid, lf 3 0 0 0 McFarland, 3b 2 0 1 1

Chapman, lf 1 0 0 0 Pinkham, rf 4 0 0 0

MacIntosh, c 4 1 2 0

Smith, cf 4 0 0 0

Totals 36 7 12 5 Totals 31 8 8 5

New Auburn 330 001 000 – 7

Trenton 010 120 40x – 8

E – Dumais, Corriveau, MacIntosh 2; McFarland, Pinkham 2B – Simard, Corriveau; Donaldson 3B – McFarland LOB – New Auburn 7, Trenton 7 DP – Stevens-Dumais-Barbarick, Lambert-Corriveau-Barbarick; S. Cole-T. Cole-Sirois, McFarland-T. Cole-Sirois (2)

SB – Dumais, Corriveau, MacIntosh; McDonald 3, S. Cole

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

New Auburn

Lambert (L, 6-2) 5 4 4 3 3 6

Corriveau 3 4 4 1 3 3

Trenton

Meyer (W, 6-1) 9 12 7 5 5 8

HBP – McDonald (by Lambert), T. Cole (by Lambert) WP – Meyer PB – MacIntosh 5, Worcester BK – Lambert TIME – 2:22 ATTENDANCE – 104

Cumberland 6, Augusta 5

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth Spike Einsiedler drove in the tying run with an infield single to the right side. The winning run then scored from third after the shortstop’s throw to first sailed wild.

Leading Cumberland was Kerry Robillard with a double, single and RBI. Brett Wilson added an RBI double.

For Augusta, Aaron Young was one of four hitters with two hits apiece. He had a double, single and steal. Brandon Royce had a single and two-run double.

(Sunday Night) Augusta (23-3) 100 101 200 – 5 11 8 Cumberland (19-7-1) 030 001 002 – 6 6 1

Cushman and Brawn; Anderson, Wilson (8), Starkey

Andrews Post 15, Oxford Hills 9

Tom Zack paced Andrews Post with a 5-for-6 effort, including a double. Simon Williams added a double and two singles while J.D. Walker cranked a two-run double.

Luke Cummings tripled and singled for Oxford Hills and Miguel Gonzales doubled and singled.

(Sunday Afternoon) Andrews Post (21-8) 002 070 060 – 15 17 4 Oxford Hills (20-5) 400 031 100 – 9 9 2

Golden, M. Walker (7) and Melanson; Cummings, Ryan (9) and McLendon


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