PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The Presque Isle Wildcats rallied for six first-inning runs and the sophomore trio of Jonah Hudson, Dakota Morrow and Jaren Winger was stellar on the mound in relief in a 10-3 baseball victory over Caribou on Thursday night at the James E. Dyer Field.
Presque Isle improved its record to 3-4, while the Vikings, playing their first game since April 29 due to several weather postponements, dropped to 0-4.
The Vikings took a quick lead in the top of the first as Noah Frost reached on an infield hit and scored on a double to left-center field by Camden Huck.
In the bottom of the inning, Presque Isle sent 11 batters to the plate against the lefty Huck (0-3) and scored six times, thanks to five hits, six stolen bases and three Viking errors.
Jake Kinney, who reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second and third and came across on a throwing error for the first run. Nick Bartlett, Torey Levesque, Dakota Morrow and Jonah Hudson all followed with RBI singles and another run was scored on an error to give Presque Isle a five-run cushion.
“Early on in the season, we didn’t have our offense flowing, but when we start to get that going, we can be a good baseball team,” Hudson said. “We make good contact up and down the lineup and we’re trying to be more aggressive on the base paths.”
Caribou scored another run off PI starting pitcher R.J. Gross in the top of the second and was threatening for more before Hudson came on in relief and induced an inning-ending double play.
Presque Isle added single runs in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings off Viking reliever Spencer McDuffie to gradually increase the lead. The Wildcats finished with 12 stolen bases in the game.
Hudson, who improved to 1-1, ended up throwing 3-1/3 innings without allowing a hit in a brilliant outing.
“I was just trying to get my breaking pitches going and keep the ball in the strike zone,” he said. “After that, I was able to spot my fastball and keep their hitters off balance.”
Morrow then came on and retired all four batters he faced before Winger entered in the top of the seventh. He walked Josh Quist before Dan Randolph managed Caribou’s first hit since the first inning. Quist scored on a groundout by Brennan Poitras before Winger struck out the final batter he faced to end it.
Hudson, Bartlett, Levesque and Winger all had two hits in PI’s 10-hit attack.
