PARIS — Bessey Motors’ reward for earning the top seed in the American Legion Zone 3 tournament was a first-round matchup with Windham, the defending state champion boasting a pitching staff that threw a no-hitter to win this year’s Western Class A title.
After falling behind 5-0 early, Windham proved to be a feisty foe. Bessey starting pitcher Mitch Lorenz was just a little more resilient, though.
Lorenz, a southpaw from St. Dom’s, tossed seven gritty innings and aggressive Bessey baserunning harried Windham into seven errors in an 11-7 win Sunday at Gouin Athletic Complex.
Bessey Motors (17-2) will host No. 4 seed Tri-Town in the semifinals at 4 p.m. on Monday.
“We’ve just got to keep our composure and keep our focus, because a nine-inning game is a lot different from a seven-inning game,” Lorenz said.
Windham (5-14) out-hit Bessey, 10-6. But Lorenz only had one bad inning, a five-run third which was fueled by three Bessey errors. Windham returned the favor in the fifth, committing three miscues that led to five Bessey runs.
Mike Mageles tossed two perfect innings of relief to close it out for Bessey.
Lorenz wiggled his way out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the first inning, striking out Kyle Joseph to end the threat.
“That was a very big momentum swing, even though it’s early in the game,” Bessey Motors coach Shane Slicer said. “Any run that you can keep off the board early is going to help you in the end.”
“Our bats have been quiet all summer. That’s definitely reflected in our record,” Windham coach Broday Artes said. “Today, we came out and hit the ball. One through nine all did good things at times. I think if we’d gotten a couple in that first inning and got the momentum going for us early, we would have been OK. But they battled and we threw the ball around a little too much.”
Bessey didn’t waste its opportunity in the bottom of the first against Windham starter Tanner Laberge. Riley Chickering led off with a walk, raced from first to third on an errant pick-off attempt and scored on Brady LaFrance’s single.
Nick Attaliades-Ryan’s infield single and a walk to Ty Martin loaded the bases. LaFrance scored on a bobble by the shortstop and Attaliades-Ryan made it 3-0 on a ground out to first.
LaFrance added another RBI single and scored on an error in the second for a 5-0 advantage.
Bessey’s first error opened the gate for Windham’s comeback in the third. Consecutive hits by Zack Alpern (RBI single) and Hodge and Joseph (RBI doubles) set up Josh Dugas’ game-tying single.
Bessey reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the third with another unearned run. Windham tied it again on Jack Butts’ pinch-hit single in the fifth.
In the bottom of the fifth, Matt Smith led off with a walk, hustled first-to-third on a dropped third strike (which Windham unnecessarily threw to first, since the batter is automatically out with first occupied) and scored on a balk. Nick Bowie and Chickering added RBI singles, then both scored on Windham’s third error of the inning.
Lorenz (four earned runs, two strikeouts, three walks) allowed another run in the sixth but closed his outing by setting the side down in order in the seventh.
“I struggled a couple of innings, but then I started hitting my locations again and had some better innings toward the end,” Lorenz said. “I just had to take a couple of deep breaths, keep my composure and hit my spots.”
“In a nine-inning game, that was huge what he did out there today,” Slicer said. “He kind of gave me a look, like, ‘Are you really going to keep going with me?’ But he wanted the ball and he didn’t get frazzled.”
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