Pastime Club’s Brock Belanger (7) tries to leap over the tag of Locke Mills second baseman Spencer Hurd during the teams’ American Legion baseball game at Pettengill Park in Auburn on Wednesday. Belanger was out on the play.
AUBURN — A lot can happen in the span of two days.
On Monday, Locke Mills fell to last year’s American Legion baseball Zone 2 champion Pastime 8-2. Wednesday, Locke Mills came out focused and turned the tables, winning 5-3.
When asked if his team was motivated after Monday’s defeat, Locke Mills manager Skip Bennett said, with a smile and a chuckle, “Yes, they were motivated.”
“That’s definitely not how we expect our guys to play,” Pastime manager Jake Brown said. “We hold them to a higher standard.”
Locke Mills got on the board first with a single from Hunter Day to start off the third inning. Day later stole second and reached third off a sac bunt. Centerfielder Tanner Wheeler knocked in Day with a single and just like that, Locke Mills had the lead.
The lead didn’t last, however, as Pastime left fielder Eddie Turgeon reached on an error by the third baseman. Turgeon was hit home on a single by Gordon Beckwith, scoring all the way from first because of a overthrow to third, tying the game at 1-1. Beckwith saw the passed ball and tried to reach third, but was tagged out at the base.
Locke Mills pitcher Zac Hill recovered nicely, giving up only six hits and one earned run in seven innings.
“I think the difference was the mental part of the game,” Hill said. “I think they definitely carried the mental part of the game last time, but this game we had the mental game.”
When asked if his team was motivated tonight, the answer again, with a smile, was yes.
Pastime pitcher Hunter Landry controlled the game for the first five innings, giving up just one run on three hits. However, things fell apart in the sixth when a single by Keegan Jones led to a stolen base, a passed ball, and eventually the second run of the contest for Locke Mills. Jake Kraske also scored, this time off a single from Caleb Clarke, and the 3-1 lead was all Locke Mills needed in the end.
Pastime tacked on a second run in the bottom of the inning, but it was too little, too late.
“It’s just about quality at-bats, but we just didn’t have it today,” Brown said. “Today, our energy wasn’t there, our mental focus wasn’t there. It was really just a bad performance. You’ve got to give them credit, we just played them two days ago and they wanted it more than us.”
The reigning zone champs could not close the floodgates in the seventh, giving up longer at-bats than they were getting at the plate.
Day started the inning doubling to left off of reliever Gage Cote, and was knocked home on a Mason Henley single to the same side. Wheeler then hit another double to center, just far enough where Henley was able to beat the tag at home.
“We needed to focus a little bit more on our communication and play a little bit more conservative with our style of play,” Bennett said. “We worked on being selective on our pitches and what we were choosing to hit … We were able to make those things come together for us.”
With playoffs approaching, Pastime is looking to flip the page and start anew next game.
“If we show this effort in a game then we are going to lose more games than we win,” Brown said. “The good thing about Legion baseball is that we play again tomorrow. We have a big game against Augusta so the team needs to reflect on it and come ready to play tomorrow.”
Pastime Club’s Brock Belanger (7) tries to leap over the tag of Locke Mills second baseman Spencer Hurd during the teams’ American Legion baseball game at Pettengill Park in Auburn on Wednesday. Belanger was out on the play.
Pastime Club’s Nick Lerette, right, slides into the tag of Locke Mills’ Caleb Clarke at third base during the teams’ American Legion baseball game at Pettengill Park in Auburn on Wednesday.
Pastime Club’s Lucas Francis, left, tries to tag Locke Mills’ Keegan Jones at third base, but loses the ball in the process during the teams’ American Legion baseball game at Pettengill Park in Auburn on Wednesday.
Pastime Club’s Hunter Landry fires a pitch against Locke Mills during the teams’ American Legion baseball game at Pettengill Park in Auburn on Wednesday.
Locke Mills pitcher Zac Hill fires a pitch against Pastime Club during the teams’ American Legion baseball game at Pettengill Park in Auburn on Wednesday.
Locke Mills’ Mason Hanley, left, slides into Pastime Club catcher Brock Belanger after Belanger can’t handle a throw at the plate during the teams’ American Legion baseball game at Pettengill Park in Auburn on Wednesday.
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