Errors costly in state game loss

Errors costly in state game loss

    BANGOR — All season long, the Central Aroostook baseball team was able to cover up a few fielding miscues by bashing the ball to outscore its opposition by a wide margin. 

    On Saturday, in the state Class D championship, that trend came to an end as the Panthers (16-4 overall) made several costly mistakes in the fifth and sixth innings, as Richmond (15-4) rallied to beat CAHS 7-4 at Mansfield Stadium, in a game played under hot, sunny conditions.
    Down 7-3 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Central Aroostook managed to load the bases, but could only get one of those runs across.
    “We tried to fight back by hitting the ball like we had been, but it just didn’t work out for us today,” Panther senior catcher-pitcher Mitch Folsom said.
    Logan McLaughlin took the loss for the Panthers as he scattered three runs (one earned) on three hits and six walks, with four strikeouts over four innings. Folsom came on to pitch in the fifth inning, and yielded four runs (none earned) on one hit and three walks, with one strikeout.
    Richmond left-hander Nick Woods had early struggles, but seemed to get stronger as the game went on. He surrendered four runs (three earned) on 10 hits and four walks, with six strikeouts. Woods also hit three Panther batters while throwing a whopping 125 pitches.
    While Woods did a nice job of keeping the Panthers from stringing together consecutive hits, it was the Panthers defense that posed the most problems.
    “The walks and errors killed us today,” Central Aroostook coach Brent York said. “We also left a few too many people on base. We dug ourselves a hole in the fifth and sixth innings with walks, and then we had a couple of errors.”
    Central Aroostook out hit Richmond 10-4, but was unable to parlay those hits into runs. The Panthers stranded 14 base runners, including the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning, while Richmond left nine.
    “We knew they [CAHS] were going to hit the ball and we had to weather the storms,” Richmond coach Ryan Gardner said. “We had to stay composed on the field, because they were going to keep coming at us … and they did.”
    The Panthers made one change to his lineup from Wednesday’s regional championship, opting to use a designated hitter — freshman Derek Rusby — for right fielder Dylan Murray.
    “Dylan’s a lefty and since we are facing a left-hander today, I decided to go with [right-handed] Derek,” York said.
    That move paid dividends as Rusby reached base in all four of his plate appearances as he ripped a double and two singles and was hit by a pitch. Logan Thomas and McLaughlin both added two singles, while Folsom doubled. Garrett Stiles and Brendan York each had one single.
    For Richmond, Woods aided his cause at the plate with a pair of singles, while Eric Dowd and Ben Carver each had one single.
    Central Aroostook gave up one run in the top of the first inning when Woods lined a hard-hit ball back at McLaughlin on the mound. A botched pick-off attempt, that saw the ball roll a considerable distance away from the bag, allowed Woods to move all the way to third. He scored on Carver’s sacrifice fly to center field.
    The Panthers answered quickly, plating two runs in the home half of the first for the 2-1 lead. Dan Brewer drew a leadoff walk on four straight pitches. Following a fly out to right field, McLaughlin singled up the middle, putting runners at first and second. After a strikeout, Folsom ripped a double down the left field line that rolled all the way to the fence, scoring both Brewer and McLaughlin.
    While both teams were able to put runners on in every inning, the score remained 2-1 until the top of the fifth inning, when Richmond scored three runs to take a 4-2 lead. After giving up back-to-back walks to start the inning, coach York brought Folsom into pitch. Richmond tried to advance its runners via the bunt, but a heads-up play by Folsom got the lead runner out at third on a force play. The next Bobcat batter walked to load the bases for Wade Tuttle who slashed a grounder to second that was misplayed, allowing one run to score. Carver then hit a grounder to McLaughlin, who had moved to shortstop, and he alertly threw home for the force out. With the bases still loaded, Folsom plunked Kade Strout, plating a run, and then walked Mike King, scoring another run.
    Once again, CAHS rallied, cutting the lead to 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth. Brendan York laced a leadoff single to the gap in left-center field. McClung popped out to first base for the first out of the inning. York advanced when Woods pickoff attempt went awry. After Thomas grounded out to short for the second out of the inning, Rusby stroked a single to left field scoring York. Brewer grounded out to short to end inning.
    Richmond added three insurance runs in the top of sixth as errors plagued Central Aroostook.
    The Panthers waged one last rally in the bottom of the seventh inning. With one away, McClung singled up the middle. Woods then hit both Logan Thomas and Rusby to load the bases. Brewer launched a deep fly ball to left field, scoring McClung, but the rally came up short as Woods struck out the last batter to end the game.
    “It’s nice to have a senior on the mound in a big game like this,” coach Gardner said. “He seemed to get stronger as the game went on.”
    “We focused our practices on defending the small ball style that Richmond uses,” York said. “We also worked on seeing a left-hander throw, because we hadn’t seen many of them this year.”
    In an effort to beat the heat Saturday, the Panthers opted to go to indoor batting cages Saturday morning in Brewer.