SOUTH PORTLAND — Tri-Town is down, but it’s certainly not out.
The Zone 2 runners-up have its back against the wall after falling to Zone 1 champion Post 51, 13-3, in seven innings in the first round of the state tournament on Wednesday at Wainwright Recreation Complex. Tri-Town will play Biddeford in an elimination game Thursday at 10 a.m.
Tri-Town has plenty of experience this season when it comes to playing with its season on the line. After losing to Bessey Motors in the Zone 2 tournament, Tri-Town dispatched Pastime and Augusta in consecutive elimination games to reach the program’s first state tournament as a senior legion squad.
“We have a tendency to focus,” Tri-Town assistant coach Bob Hubbard said. “We have a core group that has a lot of experience. Today’s score doesn’t show it, but we have a solid hitting team and when those bats come alive, they come alive.”
Tri-Town’s first senior legion state tournament game didn’t go as planned. Post 51 scored the game’s first 12 runs over the opening five innings. The Oakland-based team posted six runs in the second, chasing Tri-Town starting pitcher Shawn Murphy after 1 1/3 innings. Tri-Town used four pitches in the mercy-rule shortened contest.
Cody Martin started the scoring onslaught with a safety squeeze to plate Devon Warren, who led off the inning with a triple. Post 51 collected five hits in the second inning as the Zone 1 champion brought 10 batters to the plate.
“The bats have been a little slow for us knowing we have the lineup we have, so it was good that everyone was hitting the ball, working the count,” Post 51 first baseman Zach Mathieu said. “I think we should be proud of that.”
Mathieu played a big part in Post 51’s offensive production, going 3-for-4 with a triple, an RBI and a run scored.
Post 51 batted around the order again in the third, adding three more runs to build a 9-0 advantage. Dylan Hapworth was the lone Post 51 starter not to score a run, but he did deliver a two-run single in the third. Seven Post 51 starters recorded an RBI. Hapworth, Jake Dexter and Danny Pooler each drove in two. Derek Bowen came off the bench and ripped a two-run double in the fifth.
“I thought early we didn’t try to do too much, just nice easy swings, everybody doing their job,” Post 51 coach Russell Mercier said. “Lot of base runners. Just some timely hitting.
Free bases and errors proved costly for Tri-Town. The Tri-Town pitching staff issued 10 walks and committed five errors. Of the 10 Post 51 batters that drew walks, six scored.
“What hurt us today is walks,” Hubbard said. “We put some guys on and it forced us to make some tough plays. Hal (Bridgham) always talks about making the ordinary play, not the extraordinary. When you get guys on you really have to focus on making the basic plays and getting the outs and we just gave them too many free bases today.”
Stymied through five innings, Tri-Town’s bats came to life late. The representative of Minot-Poland-Mechanic Falls mustered no runs on four hits in the first five innings against Post 51 starter Ben Frazee. It matched that output in the sixth and seventh innings, with three runs to show for it.
Mitch Davis went 2-for-4, his second hit driving in Lukas Johnson for Tri-Town’s first run. Johnson joined Davis as a repeat hitter, finishing 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI. Johnson’s RBI single in the seventh plated Kaleb Bridgham, who led off the inning with a triple.
Tri-Town hopes the late-game offensive production carries over to Thursday’s elimination game.
“We’ve had a couple games where the bats have exploded, but for the most part getting one or two hits here and there, a couple of timely hits makes a huge difference in a game when you get guys on,” Hubbard said.
Bridgham had two of Tri-Town’s three extra-base hits, doubling in the third and tripling in the seventh.
Frazee allowed two runs on six hits, striking out six and walking two on 99 pitches.
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