Maine news, sports, weather | Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine

AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL

Mistakes sink Gardiner

By Matt DiFilippo mdifilippo@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

SOUTH PORTLAND -- In the nine-inning games featured in the American Legion baseball state tournament, teams often need their closer to pitch two or three innings.

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HERE’S THE PITCH: Gardiner’s Brandon Martin throws a pitch against Bangor during the American Legion state tournament Wednesday at the Wainwright Complex in South Portland.

Portland Press Herald photo by Sarah Craig

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Bangor had a pitcher like that who could shut the door on Wednesday afternoon. Gardiner did not.

That turned out to be the difference, as Bangor's Nate Lewis pitched the last three innings while his teammates tacked on insurance runs, and Bangor took an 11-4 victory on day one of the tournament at the Wainwright Complex in South Portland.

Gardiner faces Bessey Motors at 10 a.m., today in an elimination game. Bangor will face Nova Seafood in a winner's bracket game at 2 p.m.

Lewis played right field for the first six-plus innings, but took on a bigger role in the bottom of the seventh. Bangor had used four Gardiner errors to take a 5-0 lead, but Gardiner clawed back with the help of a two-run home run by Spencer Allen to get within 5-4.

After Bangor scored twice in the top of the seventh, Gardiner loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh when Ben Crocker and Donnie Cray singled and Forrest Chadwick was hit by a pitch.

Bangor coach David Morris relieved Joe Stanewicz (six innings, nine hits, nine strikeouts) with Lewis, Bangor's closer all summer.

"Coming in that situation is tough, but really, Nate's strength is when guys are in scoring position," Morris said.

Lewis got No. 3 batter Ryan Leach to hit a comebacker, which Lewis turned into a 1-2-3 double play. Nick Maschino followed with a shot to left field, but it dropped into the glove of Bangor's Jordan Clarke for the third out.

"I think we chased a pitch," Gardiner coach Dan Burdin said. "In that count there (0-1), you've got to find a pitch to drive. For us to chase a changeup down and out and kind of wave at it -- we're a better team than that, and Ryan's a better hitter than that. I personally thought he beat the throw to first, by a full step at least, but we've still got to have better at-bats than that."

Leach started on the mound and struck out six in 5 2/3 innings. He allowed five runs, but only one was earned. In the top of the first, Bangor's Cody McInnis led off by being hit with an 0-2 pitch, and advanced to third on an error. When Clarke tried to steal second, the throw went into center field. The next batter, Devin Lyshon, delivered an RBI groundout, and Bangor led 2-0 without a base hit, walk or ball hit out of the infield.

Bangor stretched that lead to 5-0 before Gardiner reached Stanewicz for two runs on back-to-back RBI doubles by Mike Phelps and Bruce Carver. In the top of the sixth, Brandon Martin relieved Leach and got an out to end a rally, but the Comrades reached Gardiner's bullpen after that.

In the seventh, Martin walked two and gave up two singles before giving way to Cray, who walked in a run but then got out of the inning with the score 7-4. In the eighth, after Cray walked two and hit two batters, Allen came in and gave up a two-run double to Josiah Hartley before settling down and pitching solid relief.

"By the time we realized Martin probably didn't have it that inning, we're already bases loaded with an out," Burdin said. "It was Donnie or Spencer, and neither of them had warmed up at all. We went with Donnie, and he got us out of that inning with just a run. But then he struggled the next inning, and we figured that out, made the move, and they got two more runs."

Lewis, who saw 17 pitches in three at-bats against Leach, said Bangor's strategy was to wear Leach down and take its chances against Gardiner's relievers.

"Nine innings is a lot for a pitcher," Lewis said. "When we get into (the other team's) bullpen, that's when we feel more comfortable, and we get after it."

Gardiner will have Chadwick to pitch today, but still must face a Bessey Motors team that has nearly a dozen players from Oxford Hills' Class A state champions this spring. Burdin is clear on what he believes Gardiner needs to do to bounce back.

"We just didn't play good baseball today," Burdin said. "We've just gotta show up tomorrow, ready to play."

Matt DiFilippo -- 861-9243

mdifilippo@centralmaine.com