FREEPORT — The schedule facing the Gray-New Gloucester baseball team coming into the week was daunting, with Wells, York and Freeport on the slate.
With the Patriots clinging to the 11th and final Class B South playoff spot, a tough week might have meant doom.
Instead, Gray-NG put together two solid wins: a nip-and-tuck 4-3 road win over No. 4 Freeport on Friday, and a 5-3 victory over No. 1 Wells on Tuesday.
The week ends with the Patriots up a spot to No. 10, and sporting a 9-6 record. On the other side, the Falcons dropped their second straight Western Maine Conference game and now sits at 10-5 and down to the No. 6 position in B South.
Tied 3-3 in the sixth, Gray-NG put together a one-out rally. Freeport starting pitcher Heath Cockburn was rolling heading to the sixth, having retired nine straight Patriots before cleanup hitter Will Shufelt blooped a single over the third-base bag. Cockburn’s only walk followed, and Cooper Winslow sent an RBI single to right field for a 4-3 Patriots lead.
From there, reliever Eli Winchester was money. He took over for starter Damien Pye in the fifth inning and retired eight of the 11 Freeport hitters that he faced, with three strikeouts, one hit and two walks (one intentional).
“This is a really big win, knowing that we have knocked off two of the top four teams in the league this week,” Winchester said. “We focused on winning the week, and that worked out for us. I was focused on the zone, those outside corners.”
The lefty Pye worked his curveball around a sneaky fastball that had the Falcons reaching through three innings. Winchester, a hard-throwing righty, gave the Falcons a different look.
“We could have gone the other way, but we felt Damien going was right because you just don’t see a lefty very often,” said Gray-NG coach Brad Smith. “We had three different scenarios, and Plan B was to bring in Eli. The kids knew the plan.”
Cockburn had a bit of bad luck hamper his start. In the first inning, Winchester and Josiah Rottari each blooped singles between Freeport infielders and outfielders for singles. Winchester and Rottari worked a double steal, with Winchester scoring the game’s first run.
“Heath threw all right. He didn’t have his best stuff, but lately we have not been making the routine plays in the field, and that cost us again today,” Freeport coach Bill Ridge said.
Freeport tied the game against Pye in the bottom of the first, with Finn Johnston driving in Jack Sawicki for a 1-1 deadlock.
Small ball
Pye’s perfectly placed bunt opened the third inning, and Nick McCann singled to put runners at the corners. An error plated Pye, and a fielder’s choice ground ball by Shufelt gave the Patriots a 3-1 lead.
Freeport hitters figured Pye out the second time through the lineup. In the fourth, Toby Holt launched a double off the fence in left-center field. Gabe Wagner followed by hitting the ball in nearly the same spot, but 10 feet further, for a tying two-run home run.
Cockburn went six innings, allowing seven hits and one walk with four strikeouts. Shea Wagner pitched a scoreless seventh for Freeport, permitting a two-out single by McCann, who was 2-for-4.
Freeport threatened in the sixth, with Gabe Wagner working a walk and stealing second with one out. But, Winchester stranded him there, picking up a strikeout and a shallow fly ball.
In the Falcons’ seventh, Josh Burke pinch hit and singled to right field to open the frame. Eriksen Shea pinch ran and moved to second on an error. A ground ball by Sawicki (2-for-3, walk) moved Shea to third before Winchester retired Johnston on a ground ball to second.
“This was a great, great game. This is what you live for, the great games,” Smith said. “We try not to look at the Heal points, but we’ve lost three games by one run and we know the record is not indicative of who we are. We play for today. This one is in the rear-view mirror by the time we get home and we focus on Cape next (Monday at home, 4 p.m.).”
Ridge feels his team’s playoff lives begin Monday when the Falcons visit Yarmouth at 4 p.m.
“For us, the playoffs start now. We know that we’re going to get in, it is just where are we going to finish?” he said.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
