Oak Hill’s Caleb Valliere (7) gets back to the bag safely as Spruce Mountain first baseman Logan Moffett (38) waits for the throw during a Mountain Valley Conference baseball field at Griffin Field in Livermore Falls on Monday. (Tony Blasi/Sun Journal)
LIVERMORE FALLS — There were game-opening jitters and a handful of errors, but the Spruce Mountain baseball team came out on top with a 16-6 victory over Oak Hill, and got to knock off early thanks to the 10-run rule Monday.
Under picture-perfect skies and a warm sun, the Phoenix faced a couple of tough jams before their six-run outburst in the third inning and pulled away from the Raiders in the five-inning Mountain Valley Conference game.
“Not really the way we had it planned,” Spruce Mountain coach Brian Dube said. “They hit a couple in the grass. We had a couple of opportunities to get out of it. They scored four runs with one hit. We have to clean that end of it up.
“Jordy (Daigle) threw more pitches than I would like to see, and that’s why we went to Bryson (Bailey), and I knew he could throw strikes.
“I thought Mason Shink hit the ball good. He hasn’t played in a couple of years. The middle of the order seemed to come through when they needed to. In order to get where we want to be, we have to clean up the defense.”
The entire first inning was anything but dull, with the Raiders taking advantage of a couple of fielder’s choices, two errors and key hits from second baseman Caleb Valliere and catcher Reid Cote to push across four runs.
But the Phoenix pulled even in a hurry when batters Landon Brochu and Hunter Dalton were hit by pitches. Shortstop Nick Lombardi drilled a double and brought Brochu home. Catcher Logan Moffett drove in a pair of runs with his single, and, suddenly, it was a tie game going into the second inning.
The Raiders stepped it up again, coming up with two more runs in the second inning thanks to a Valliere hit and error to take a 6-4 lead.
Spruce Mountain got another run in the bottom of the second thanks to a Dalton double that brought home winning pitcher Jordy Daigle.
Daigle settled down on the mound and kept the Raiders at bay in the top of third.
In the bottom half, Spruce Mountain’s offense went to work on Oak Hill’s defense and piled up six runs to take an 11-6 lead.
Relief pitcher and third baseman Bryson Bailey had an RBI single, and outfielder Mason Shink drove in a pair of runs with a single. Shink tried to stretch his base hit on on an error, but that didn’t happen and he was thrown out at home plate. The Phoenix also took advantage of three Raider errors.
In the fourth, the Phoenix collected three more runs with help of an RBI double from Brouchu and Shink’s RBI single.
Spruce Mountain finished off Oak Hill, using four straight singles to help implement the 10-run rule and collect two more runs. Gilbert and Bailey each earned an RBI.
“We just didn’t play very consistent. I think our confidence waned when we felt really good about ourselves when we jumped out early,”Oak Hill coach Chad Stowell said. “Give them credit. They came right back and I think we got a little shell shocked.
“We thought we had delivered the kill shot a little too early. We took the foot off the gas pedal a little bit.”
Spruce Mountain first baseman Jordy Daigle slides safely into second base past leaping Oak Hill shortstop Gavin Rawstron during a Mountain Valley Conference baseball field at Griffin Field in Livermore Falls on Monday. (Tony Blasi/Sun Journal)
Spruce Mountain catcher Noah Gilbert puts the tag on Casey Dion (16) in the third inning of a Mountain Valley Conference baseball field at Griffin Field in Livermore Falls on Monday. (Tony Blasi/Sun Journal)
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