LEWISTON — A solid first inning was all it took for Rogers Post to take care of its crosstown rival.
Rogers Post sent 10 batters to the plate in the opening frame, half of which touched home during a 10-2 victory over Pastime in an American Legion baseball game Thursday.
“That’s always good when you can get some runs early,” Rogers Post coach Dave Jordan said. “I think it helps you settle down. It was nice to see our guys be aggressive and take advantage of some opportunities to get some runs.”
Three singles, three Pastime errors and a hit by pitch gave Rogers Post a 5-0 lead before the Lewiston-dominated American Legion club got its first crack with the bats. Elijah Roe had the lone RBI in the inning, a single through the right side to score Jarod Plourde. Roe finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs.
Austin Cox scored two batters earlier on the first of five Pastime errors. Lew Jensen and Roe both came around to score on two more Pastime miscues in the inning. Drew Lashua rounded out the five-run inning by stealing home on a double steal.
“We jumped out on the first pitch we saw,” Rogers Post’s Drew Lashua said. “We were just all over it pretty much. We put the bat on the ball and hit it hard.”
Rogers Post (3-0) tacked on a run in the second, another in the fourth and three more in the fifth to push its lead to 10-0. The Auburn-based team batted around the order in the fifth, needing just a single base hit to accomplish the feat. Rogers Post drew three walks in the frame and capitalized on two Pastime errors.
“We didn’t play to our potential today and they’re a very good baseball team,” Pastime coach Andrew Cessario said. “They won the KVAC championship and its pretty much the same team plus a couple post grads. That’s a really good baseball team.”
Lashua completed a 3-for-3 night with an RBI single to right field, scoring Roe from third for a 9-0 lead.
After an error at shortstop loaded the bases, pinch-hitter Evan Raymond drew a seven-pitch walk for Rogers Post’s 10th run. Raymond’s free base chased Jean-Luc Dostie after two-thirds of an inning. Gage Cote got Cox to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the bases-loaded threat.
Rogers Post left 15 runners on base.
Facing a loss via mercy rule, Pastime scratched across a run in the fifth to prolong the contest. Austin Wing delivered a two-out RBI single up the middle to score Brock Belanger from second. Wing had the only two hits against Jensen on the mound.
“I gave the guys a challenge,” Cessario said. “I said to them, ‘I don’t want to go home early. They might want to go home early, but I don’t want to go home early, so we’re going to try and get a run here.’ They got the challenge and they got two runs in.”
Jensen picked up the win, scattering two hits over five innings. He struck out five and walked five. Pastime (2-2) stranded five runners in scoring position against Jensen.
“I thought Lew was good,” Jordan said. “He battled. He’s doing a nice job of working on just trying throwing to a spot.”
Pastime starter Matt Poulin suffered the loss in two innings of work. Poulin was tagged for six runs on six hits. Mike Wong pitched two innings of relief, allowing a run on three hits. Cote struck out five over the final 2 1/3.
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