Over the first three innings of Tuesday’s Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B high school baseball game at Kelley Field, Morse put runners on base.
Between three Maranacook errors, three walks and two hit batters by Black Bears starting pitcher Logan McLaughlin (63 pitches over three innings) and a single by Trenton Moore, the Shipbuilders had their chances, but still trailed 4-2.
Fortunately for Morse, Maranacook kept making errors until the Shipbuilder bats warmed up for a 10-4 victory, giving Morse an 8-3 record with a visit to Leavitt slated for today.
In all, the Black Bears ( 5- 6) helped Morse out, committing eight miscues, leading to seven unearned runs.
MORSE HIGH SCHOOL catcher Josh McDougal, top photo, fires to first with teammates Jacob Cressey, left, and Keegan McDonough looking on. The Shipbuilders downed Maranacook, 10-4, in KVAC Class B baseball action at Kelley Field in Bath on Tuesday. Above, Zach Holbrook scores the game’s first run as Maranacook catcher Matt Delmar watches the play.
“Defensively, we are very good even though we haven’t showed it the last couple games,” said Morse coach Garrett Olson, whose team was coming off a come- from- behind win over Nokomis on Friday. “ We had every reason to lay down on Friday and give up, but we have guys who don’t give up and have that intensity and the light in their eye. They have what it takes.
“This is the time to start picking it up. Guys like (catcher) Josh McDougal played huge for us, blocking everything and doing everything that we are asking him to do. He has stepped up.”
“We have do better defensively. If we keep making errors like this, it will not take us very far in the playoffs,” said Moore, who led the Shipbuilders at the plate, going 2-for-4 including a key RBI double that tied the game at 4 in the fourth. “We just tried to pick each other up, made sure no one kept their head down, and just kept playing hard. It was important to come back there. We were on the bases, and one run became another and another.”
First inning lead
Morse jumped on top 2-0 in the first. Ethan Winglass walked and Zack Holbrook was hit by a McLaughlin pitch. One out later, Chris Paulus hit a slow roller that was thrown away for an error, with Holbrook scoring the game’s first run. Moore came home on a fielder’s choice RBI groundball by Andrew LaCavera.
The Shipbuilders had a chance to add to their lead in the second. With McDougal (hit by pitch) and Trevor Drouin ( walk) on base with one out, McLaughlin picked up two groundballs, including a diving stab by first baseman Cam Brochu to retire the side.
Morse pitcher Jacob Cressey rolled through two innings. He allowed two hits in the first, but picked off a Maranacook base runner at first and Winglass ran down a Matt Delmar flyball. Cressey threw just seven pitches in a 1-2-3 second frame.
“ He throws a lot of strikes, three pitches for strikes, and has a great move to first,” said Olson of his southpaw. “If you do that in high school baseball, you are going to get a lot of 1-2-3 innings. He had them off-balance, with most of their hits coming off the handle.”
Cressey ran into trouble in the third. Connor Ireland (2-for-3) and Vinnie Birtwell singled, and Nick Lacasse reached on an error to load the bases. Brochu (2-for-4) ripped a two-run single to tie the game, and Delmar singled to give the Black Bears a 3-2 lead. Brochu came home on a Morse error, one of four for the hosts.
Morse put two runners into scoring position to open the bottom of the third, but McLaughlin pitched out of the jam to keep his team ahead by two.
“We were setting ourselves up for big situations, having second and third with nobody out, and we let them get out of it without scoring a run,” said Olson. “We are doing good, winning games we are supposed to win, but when it comes to crunch time we are not getting the outs we need or the big hit.”
After tying the game in the fourth, Morse took the lead in the fifth. LaCavera walked to open the frame, and pinch- runner Brandon Magliozzi took second on a groundball.
Keegan McDonough reached on an infield single, and Magliozzi scored the go- ahead run on a throwing error. Moments later, Keegan McDonough came home on a fielding miscue for a 6- 4 Morse lead.
McLaughlin pitched five innings, throwing 100 pitches with one strikeout, four walks and three hits. He allowed six runs, none of them earned.
Chris Florek relieved McLaughlin in the sixth and was hit hard as Morse batted around and scored four more runs. Dakota Jacobs drove in two with a bases-loaded single, and Drouin and Winglass walked with the bases loaded to force in two more runs to complete the scoring.
Cressey earned the win, going six innings (just 65 pitches) with four strikeouts, no walks and seven hits allowed. Winglass pitched the seventh with one walk.
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