Warriors play in EM Class D finals today in Bangor

Houlton Pioneer Times photo/Gloria Austin
ON THE PLAY — Southern Aroostook’s Parker Walker catches the late throw, as Jonah Sarchfield of Hodgdon slides safely into second base during last Saturday’s EM Class D semifinal game in Hodgdon. Pat Goodall of SACS backs up the play. SACS moves on to the EM final today in Bangor with a 10-2 win.
By Gloria Austin
Staff Writer
    If Vance Gustin was uncomfortable, his expression never gave it away. The long, lean right-hander would stand atop the rubber, set his penetrating dark eyes to the target and throw.
    “I was really nervous for most of the game,” he said. “I knew every one of my teammates wanted the win just as much as I did. I just had to tell myself to trust them to do their part.”
    The No. 3 Southern Aroostook Warriors upset No. 2 Hodgdon, 10-2, last Saturday in Hodgdon during the Class D semifinals. The Warriors will play No. 4 Bangor Christian today at 3 p.m. at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor.
    “The first couple of innings when they got a lot of runners on and we struggled on defense, I just took a couple of extra seconds before each pitch to calm down,” explained Gustin. “It was near the middle/bottom of the order so I just came right at them with fastballs. Will did a great job moving the glove around and getting me to focus on the batters instead of the runners.”
    “I was calling mostly fastballs because we wanted to stay ahead of the hitters,” added McGary. “Keeping the ball down was key.”
    The Warriors opened the game with a 3-0 lead, as Trent Cullinan singled to score Dylan Porter; McGary reached on an error, as Cullinan scored and then Joe Frazier hits a grounder to score Pat Goodall.
    However, the Hawks loaded the bases in their half of the inning only to strand the runners. Hodgdon cracked the scoreboard in the third when Erik Ryan doubled and scored on Matt Harmon’s ground out. In the fourth, Drew Gough reached base on a single down the third base line and scored on Ryan’s single.
Houlton Pioneer Times photo/Gloria Austin
GOOD JOB — SACS interim coach Rob Betschner congratulates Vance Gustin on finishing an inning strong in the Class D semis last Saturday in Hodgdon.
    With the score 3-2, Southern Aroostook’s Gustin relied on his defense.
    “I just focused on keeping the ball low and letting my teammates do the work in the field,” said Gustin. “I knew they had my back, so I just tried to get the batters to put it in play and not in any gaps.”
    Gustin said he and his teammates weren’t too worried when Hodgdon closed to within a run.
    “We were only up by one run, but all year, we’ve had innings that we just take off and score a bunch of runs,” he said. “We just knew we had to get the timing of the pitches down,” Gustin said. “We did take some bad swings in the middle half of the game, but then we narrowed our focus and swung at strikes and did OK from there.”
    Southern Aroostook scratched out a run in the fifth when Parker Walker scored on a passed ball and another two in the sixth when Gustin reached base on an error and scored, along with Walker who walked and was eventually punched home by McGary.
    “I think once we got up 6-2, we started to feel more comfortable and more confident,” said McGary. “We have had an outstanding offense this year.”
    In the top of the seventh, Southern Aroostook took advantage of Hodgdon errors and walks to score their last four runs for a 10-2 advantage.
    “This was Hodgdon’s first time to the semifinal game since 2001 and the lat time they have reached the playoffs in 10 years,” said Hodgdon coach Rob Smith. “This year’s team faced much adversity and continued to dig and work to win games.”
    Smith said his pitchers just “started to run out of gas” on Saturday.
    “There is a lot of wear and tear on the body and especially the arm,” explained Smith. “I prefer not to have the catcher pitch, but my back-up catchers (Drew Gough and Nick Lunn, who replaced an injured Josh Hudson) this year happened to also be my top two pitchers. In the end the outcome was not what we wanted, but I am proud of what they accomplished.”
    “Will did an awesome job behind the plate picking spots and I kept mixing up speeds and just kept with what was working,” Gustin said. “I was well supported throughout the entire game. We kept positive attitudes and our coaches did an awesome job encouraging us. Our teamwork was great.”
    Despite winning under two substitute coaches, McGary said the team’s biggest momentum comes in playing for their former coach, Murray Putnam, who was put on administrative leave in May.
    “Coach Rob is really filling in well and he keeps our intensity on 10 every moment of the game,” he said. “But, we all play with what [coach Putnam] taught us … the basics. We owe it all to him because he is the one who taught us.”