H.S. baseball: Red-hot Devils stifle Red Eddies

Edward LIttle catcher Giles Paradis fields the ball from a throw from the outfield but it wasn’t in time as Lewiston’s Hunter Landry slides into home with a run during Tuesday night’s baseball game in Auburn. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)

AUBURN — Lewiston doesn’t need extra motivation when Edward Little is the opponent. A chance to host a home game in the playoffs riding a four-game winning streak didn’t hurt, though.

Hunter Landry stymied the Red Eddies from the mound while the Blue Devils cracked eight hits and took advantage of eight walks and six EL errors to cruise to a 9-1 win in both teams’ regular-season finale under the lights at Auburn Suburban Little League on Tuesday night.

“The EL-Lewiston rivalry is always close, but a (9-1 score) isn’t a bad thing, for sure,” Landry said.

EL finishes the season 13-3 and will be the No. 3 seed in the Class A North tournament. Lewiston, which avenged an 11-4 loss last month to the Eddies, is 12-4 and vaulted into the No. 4 spot thanks to the win. The Eddies will host No. 6 Mt. Ararat while the Devils will host No. 5 Hampden Academy in the quarterfinals on or around June 7.

Lewiston’s pitching staff has now allowed one or zero runs in its last seven games and eight of its last nine. The Blue Devils are 11-1 since starting the season 0-3.

“We’re pitching and defending,” catcher Brock Belanger said. “That’s the thing about us, we defend very well and pitch to contact.”

“Throw strikes and defend, that is who we are. That’s our identity,” said Lewiston coach Darren Hartley, whose team made just one fielding miscue. “We can hang around with anybody when we throw strikes and defend.”

Landry, who allowed three hits and didn’t walk a batter while fanning six in five innings, credited Belanger with keeping him in rhythm on the hill.

“I haven’t shaken him off once all season,” said Landry, who was two starts removed from no-hitting Brunswick on May 16. “Most teams call their pitches from the dugout, but he’s got his call right there, and he’s done an amazing job all year.”

The bottom of Lewiston’s lineup manufactured the game’s first run with one out in the second inning by working EL starter Grant Hartley for three walks, followed by a sacrifice fly by Owen Cox.

EL’s first error sparked a three-run third for the Devils. Evan Cox (two hits) had an RBI single off of reliever Ben Cassidy. Mitchell Frisbie also drove in a run with an infield hit that ended up plating two runs after an errant throw to try to nab him at first.

A balk that scored Belanger made it 5-0 in the fourth. Lewiston added three unearned runs without benefit of a hit in the sixth.

Sean Lake’s pinch hit RBI single in the seventh capped Lewiston’s scoring. EL spoiled Landry’s shutout bid in the fifth when Nick Hathaway’s ground out scored Christian Beliveau (two hits) from third.

“I don’t think really any of our pitchers hit their spots like we typically do,” EL coach Dave Jordan said. “We were outplayed and outcoached in every aspect of the game today. They were the better team. Today was by far the worst game we’ve played this season. A lot of that had to do with Lewiston taking advantage of our mistakes.”

A home playoff game will be Lewiston’s first since 2012, when it was the No. 2 seed. The location of the game is to be announced, as the Devils’ home schedule has been split between Bates College and Lewiston Little League due to ongoing construction at the high school.

“We just need to build off of the momentum, come to work every day and get the next one and then the next one,” Landry said.

After making a fantastic diving stop on a hard hit ground ball, Edward Little’s Nick Hathaway tries to throw out the batter at first but the throw went wide of the base and the runners advanced during Thursday night’s game in Auburn. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)