FARMINGTON – Senior Peter McLaughlin belted a bases-clearing triple with one out in the top of the sixth inning as No. 11 Lawrence overcame some early miscues to rally past No. 6 Mt. Blue 9-8 in an Eastern Class A baseball preliminary at Hippach Field.
Mt. Blue’s Brian Wells belted a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning, but it wasn’t enough for the Cougars.
The Cougars (11-7) led 6-2 after four innings and appeared in control, but physical and mental mistakes in the late stages proved costly. Mt. Blue beat Lawrence 9-3 in a KVAC game last month.
Lawrence (8-9) advances to play Oxford Hills in a quarterfinal game Thursday in South Paris.
“We had looked good early on,” said Mt. Blue assistant coach Craig Collins, who was filling in for Gary Parlin while the head coach was away at his daughter’s graduation from Princeton University. “My hat’s off to Lawrence for hanging in there and coming back. We made some errors defensively that hurt us, but (Lawrence pitcher) Jason Ackley deserves a lot of credit. He stayed in there and bore down.”
Mt. Blue nursed a 7-5 lead in the fifth inning after Ben Saviello scored on a Mike Milliken single. To that point, Cougars pitcher Justin Tibbetts (5-3) was effective by throwing a sidearm curve ball that kept the Bulldogs’ batters from digging in.
The sixth inning began routinely with an infield out, however, but an error opened the floodgates. Three straight singles followed, the last one by Rick Flynn driving in a run. McLaughlin, a left-handed batter, belted an inside pitch solidly into the gap between left and center field for his third hit of the day.
Marshall Holmes, Will Richard and Flynn each scored.
“I hit a fast ball, McLaughlin said. “(Tibbetts) had been starting off with a first pitch fastball, so that’s what I was waiting for. The difference today compared to our first game against them was today we were able to put a string of hits together.”
Lawrence scored three runs in the fifth on extra-base hits.
The Cougars plated four in the first inning. Jason Shaw scored when a throw from the outfield skipped past McLaughlin at home. Aaron Wolfe, Chelsea Allen and Tibbetts (three hits) each scored.
Ackley, the Bulldogs’ No. 2 pitcher, settled down and retired the side in the second and third innings, respectively. Ackley allowed four hits over the final six innings with one strikeout.
Mt. Blue scored two runs in the fourth on a Wolfe RBI groundout and an error.
“Jason threw well in the position he was in,” Lawrence coach Wally Covell said. “Our No. 1 pitcher is out with a broken hand, so we knew the Mt. Blue batters would come right at him. That’s what we have focused on for the past week. The errors hurt us, but the defense came through late in the game.”
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