AUBURN — It is the dream that many baseball players have growing up — Final inning, tie game, bases loaded, two outs, full count. A hit, your team wins. An out, we play on and someone else will have to be the hero.
Edward Little’s Grant Hartley took a 3-2 pitch from Mt. Ararat reliever Kaileb Hawkes that was close, leaving a hush over the large crowd surrounding Austin Field on Saturday.
“Ball.”
The Red Eddies and their fans celebrated a walk-off, 5-4 win.
EL (17-1) moves on to the regional final, slated for Tuesday at Morton Field in Augusta against top-seeded Bangor, a 5-0 winner over No. 4 Brewer on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.
For Mt. Ararat, the No. 6 seed that had upset No. 3 Oxford Hills on Thursday in the Eagles’ first playoff appearance since 2009, it was a tough ending to a turnaround season.
“It was a good game, and I am not one to complain about pitches,” Mt. Ararat coach Bob Neron said. “These kids were positive in the dugout all the way through and they hung in there. We showed that we can play with good teams, and the future is bright at Mt. Ararat.”
“Coach Neron has done a fantastic job for Mt. Ararat, with some gritty guys who play hard and are still young,” EL coach Dave Jordan said.
Early on it appeared the Red Eddies were going to run away with the game, jumping out to a 4-1 lead through two innings off Mt. Ararat starter Ryan Glass, who went three-plus with eight hits and two walks.
Austin Cox and Tyler Blanchard singled to open the first inning for EL, and Jarod Norcross-Plourde doubled to deep right field for the game’s first run. A sacrifice fly by Drew Lashua made it 2-0 Red Eddies after one.
Mt. Ararat cut the lead in half in the second as Sam Alexander doubled and scored on a single by Jacob O’Neill.
EL made it 4-1 in the second, with Blanchard and Lashua picking up an RBI each.
But, the Eagles hung in there, getting solid relief from Harper Moutal. He retired the first nine batters he faced and helped his team battle back with a three-run sixth frame for a 4-4 deadlock.
We had a plan going in, that if they were getting to Ryan early that we would come back with Harper Moutal, a big contrast,” said Neron. “Then we were going to come back with Kaileb, who is 180 degrees in the opposite direction.”
After EL starter Damian St. Pierre went the first five innings (one run, six hits, five strikeouts, two walks, 98 pitches), Jordan went to his bullpen. However, catcher and likely reliever Brandon Varney was injured in the second inning, forcing Jordan to turn to Ben Harris to start the sixth.
Ryan Mello began the Mt. Ararat sixth-inning rally by reaching on an error, and Moutal was hit by a Harris pitch to put two Eagles on.
Jordan brought in C.J. Jipson, He struck out the first batter he faced, but O’Neill (2-for-3, two RBIs) ripped a double to left-center field to draw Mt. Ararat to 4-2.
Two pitches later, Jipson uncorked a wild pitch that had Moutal halfway down the third-base line and O’Neill nearly to third base. Moutal put on the brakes and returned to third as O’Neill sprinted toward second, with a throw to second base sailing into the outfield, allowing Moutal to reverse course again and trot home. An RBI fielder’s choice by Garrett Moody tied the game.
Jipson found his form in the seventh, retiring the Eagles in order.
“I thought once C.J. got loose he made some good pitches,” Jordan said.
Cox led off the EL seventh by working a walk from Moutal. Neron turned to Hawkes, who quickly retired Blanchard and Norcross-Plourde, with Cox advancing to second. Neron decided to put clean-up hitter Lashua on first. Jipson, who entered the game for Varney, singled sharply to right field to load the bases, setting the stage for Hartley.
“Leading off and getting on first, I had a good feeling,” said Cox, who scored three runs, was 2-for-3 at the plate, and had a good view of the final pitch to Hartley. “I was running down the third-base line and I am looking at the pitch and said, ‘Oh my god!’ (The pitch) was close.”
“I loved how the bats came alive in the seventh inning, focusing on each pitch,” Jordan said.
Nate Leslie, Cam Cox and Nick Merrill each singled for Mt. Ararat, while St. Pierre was 2-for-3 with a run scored for EL.
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