LEWISTON — After a lengthy road trip Thursday and a holiday weekend ahead, Friday was a potentially tough day to trot out onto the diamond again for another baseball game.
A winning streak always makes things easier and that’s what Pastime’s motivation was Friday. Coming off a win at Locke Mills, Pastime was anxious to keep its winning ways going the following night against Tri-Town.
“I don’t think it was hard,” Pastime pitcher Austin Wing said. “Coming off a win from a good team, we had the momentum going for us.”
Pastime kept that winning streak going with a 4-1 win over Tri-Town. Wing pitched a three-hitter and got great support from his team at the plate and in the field. It was just his second start of the summer.
With Pastime and Tri-Town with five wins each, both teams are trying to keep pace with the top teams in Zone II. It was a solid win, especially after playing Thursday.
“It’s always tough on a short turnaround and trying to play back-to-back games,” Pastime coach Andrew Cessario said. “In Legion, we’re always playing four times a week. So it’s tough on pitching and mentally going back-to-back. We had a good win (Thursday) and continued on with a good win (Friday).”
Wing was in command early and held Tri-Town to just three hits. Pastime played solid defense behind him and never allowed Tri-Town to get things going offensively.
“He gave us a tremendous effort,” Cessario said. “He’s not a big strikeout guy. When we play fundamentally sound defense like we did, all-around, we’re going to be tough to beat. He’s a ground ball pitcher. When we get ground balls and don’t make errors in the infield, we have a good shot to win every single game.”
Tri-Town (5-3) got a solid outing from Brandon Hubbard, who was relieved by Shawn Murphy in the fifth. Though Tri-Town got within 2-1 in the fourth, it had just one base runner and no hits the rest of the way.
“We put a lot of balls in play,” Tri-Town assistant coach Bob Hubbard said. “If you hit it up the middle against them, they have a great middle infield here and have a lot of range. They didn’t make a lot of mistakes.”
Mike Wong had a pair of doubles and Brock Belanger had a pair of hits for Pastime (6-3). Carter Chabot, Brady Cusson and RJ Sargent each drove in runs.
“This was probably the best all-around game we’ve played all year long,” Cessario said. “We’ve had some lopsided wins, but that was the best game against a good opponent. We executed a suicide squeeze. We executed two sacrifice bunts. We ran the bases really well. It was a good all-around fundamental game.”
After Wing put Tri-Town down in order in the first, Pastime took a 1-0 lead. Belanger singled and later scored on a Chabot single.
A Pastime double play nixed any Tri-Town hopes in the second. After Wong doubled to lead off the bottom of the inning, Sargent and Cusson had back-to-back bunts that helped score him for the 2-0 lead.
“I had it on right from warm-ups,” Wing said. “My arm felt really great.”
That was all Wing really needed. He had a walk and a single in the third but finished strong with a pair of strike outs to end the inning. Tri-Town got its only run in the fourth when Luke Johnson walked and later scored on a two-out Ethan Callier single.
“I just tried to keep it low and outside,” Wing said. “They have really good hitters. It’s hard to hit many balls that are low and outside.”
Pastime made it 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth when a fielder’s choice on a Sargent grounder plated Matt Poulin. Then Gage Cote scored in the fifth on a delayed steal following a dropped third strike.
“I was talking with the kids about how our guys was dealing,” Cessario said. “It was going to be a low scoring game. They’re a good ball club. That was my type of game. My philosophy is playing small ball.”
Hubbard scattered five hits for Tri-Town and Murphy allowed just one in two innings of relief.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game,” Hubbard said. “Coming in against these guys, they’re a solid team. Obviously, two would have been plenty. We hit the ball but hit it right at those guys and they made the plays.”
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