WALES — Dirigo baseball is senior-led and tradition-rich, as usual.
When a freshman and a first-year junior starter are the ones coming up with the big hits in a late-inning rally, good luck to the rest of the MVC.
The ninth-grader, third baseman and left fielder Cooper Chiasson, capped the Cougars’ comeback with a two-run single Friday. It scored Gus Brown and Kaine Hutchins to deliver the lead with two outs in the top of the sixth inning and steer Dirigo to a 10-8 triumph over Oak Hill at windswept Fairchild Field.
Chiasson went 2-for-4 with a run and two stolen bases. Brown, a junior right fielder, drove in the first run of the sixth inning and tacked on an RBI double for insurance in the seventh.
“I was a little nervous, but I had to pull through it. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” Chiasson said. “We’ve been hitting so much in practice, it’s ridiculous. We take so many cuts every day, and it’s working out.”
Dirigo (3-1) earned its third consecutive win since three starters returned from a school trip to Europe, but not without a fight.
The Cougars scored four runs on four hits and three Raiders’ errors in the first before falling behind 7-5 in the third and 8-6 in the fourth.
“We kind of had to get back on track,” Dirigo coach Ryan Palmer said. “We’ve been doing some uncharacteristic things to start the year. We had to get that Dirigo swagger back, and we did a pretty good job of that today.”
It remained a two-run deficit when Gavin Arsenault was hit by a pitch to launch the sixth. He raced all the way to third on an errant pickoff throw from Oak Hill pitcher Jake Bannister and scored on Brown’s knock down the third-base line.
Tyler Frost (2-for-4, two runs) singled in front of Hutchins, who reached on a fielder’s choice and stole second to set up Chiasson.
“I think this game is really going to be the big push to get us some momentum,” Brown said.
Bannister walked to open the Oak Hill sixth against Hutchins (2-0).
That summoned Arsenault, who got Therrien to tap into a fielder’s choice that turned into a double play when Bannister was charged with interference at second base.
“I deplore coaches that blame officials. That being said, today, there were (some plays where) we felt as if it wasn’t necessarily a fair shake,” Oak Hill coach Matt Bray said. “But Dirigo played a hell of game. They are, in my opinion, the benchmark. This program has to get there. I think we’re getting close.”
Arsenault retired the next four to nail down the save, capped by Brown’s sprinting, stretching grab in right field to retire Adam Mooney and end it.
Dirigo got back-to-back, two-out doubles from Arsenault and Brown in the seventh against Bannister, a senior who was making his first varsity pitching start.
“Stick to what you know,” Brown said of his early-season groove. “If you’re hitting the ball, don’t change.
Seven of Bannister’s runs were unearned, courtesy of six Oak Hill errors.
“It didn’t feel like a pitcher that gave up 10 runs. It was just one of those games where we made a lot of errors,” Bray said. “We’ve got to cut that out, but that’s part of being a young team.”
Two balks and a wild pitch compounded the fielding foibles in the first.
Consecutive hits from Frost, Hutchins, Anthony Todd and Chiasson deepened the damage. Todd’s was an RBI double.
“It’s not a bad thing, but Oak Hill is a cocky team,” Palmer said. “We knew we had to be ready for that, and we responded well.”
Oak Hill (1-3), which also rallied from four runs down Wednesday to edge Wiscasset, stormed back with three runs in its half of the opening frame.
Adam Merrill and Bannister started the surge with back-to-back singles. Jonah Martin ripped an RBI double, and Brent Mulherin plated two with a rope to left.
“We start two seniors and four sophomores, every game,” Bray said. “We lost 10-0 on Monday at Madison. The improvement over a week is fantastic. We had a lot of hits. It was really good to see the bats.”
Chiasson made it 5-3 on a dropped fly ball, a wild pitch and a passed ball in the third.
The Raiders responded with four to take the lead. Oak Hill cut it to one when Dirigo mishandled Austin Noble’s bases-loaded bunt. Merrill later cleared the bases with a double.
“I didn’t think Kaine threw horribly bad, but they were hitting him a little bit and finding some holes and got back into the game,” Palmer said. “We were keeping track, and once we saw Bannister get over 115 (pitches), we knew we had a good shot.”
Hutchins walked five, struck out four and stranded five Raiders on base.
Todd plated Frost with a sacrifice fly in the Dirigo fourth. Oak Hill took the run back when Dalton Therrien led off with a triple and raced home on Martin’s fly to center.
“We had them on the ropes,” Bray said.
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