BANGOR — When a baseball team is desperately searching for a win to survive the double-elimination state American Legion tournament, it helps to have a Hunter in the lineup.
Having two is even better, as Pastime Club demonstrated Thursday.
Hunter Landry went 4-for-4 with two RBIs and Hunter Richardson stymied Brewer hitters for 8 1/3 innings to keep Pastime alive with an 8-1 victory at the Winkin Complex at Husson University.
Pastime will face Zone 2 rival Bessey Motors in another elimination game at 1 p.m. on Friday.
“These kids battle and they compete all the time,” Pastime coach Jake Brown said. “We’re in a good spot. If we show up and we stay disciplined at the plate, have quality at bats and take care of the baseball in the field…”
Richardson scattered seven hits and allowed one earned run while walking three and fanning four. He dominated the formidable 3-4-5 hitters in Brewer’s lineup — Logan Rogerson, Jack Corey and KVAC Class A Player of the Year Alex Brooks — who combined to 0-for-11 with a walk and a strikeout.
“Those 2-3-4 hitters are dangerous,” Brown said. “I think they did a good job getting ahead of the count and working in the off-speed stuff. Hunter and Brock (Belanger, the catcher) did a great job with that middle of the order. If you shut down their middle of the order, you have a good chance of beating them.”
“I was just being a pitcher and throwing strikes, not trying to do anything special, not trying to strike kids out, just letting them put the ball in play and trusting the defense,” Richardson said. “They have some very good bats, but mixing pitches between my slider, curve and fastball and hitting my spots, trying to hit the outside corner, that’s what worked.”
While Pastime played mistake-free defense (no errors to two key errors for Brewer), the offense came through in big spots after missing some opportunities in Wednesday’s 7-6 loss to Yankee Ford.
After stranding runners at second and third with one out in the fourth against Brooks, Pastime broke through in the fifth.
Eddie Turgeon’s leadoff walk and error on the ensuing sacrifice bunt put runners on the corners. After a ground out, Turgeon beat a throw home on Belanger’s grounder to first to make it 1-0. Landry’s single to right doubled the lead.
A walk and strikeout brought Richardson to the plate. Rogerson made a diving stop on his grounder in the hole at short, but his throw to first was high. That allowed Belanger to score the third run of the frame, but Rogerson ultimately chased down Richardson in a rundown because the ball ricocheted quickly back into play and forced the base runners in front of Richardson as he made a wide turn at first.
“We’ve just got to take advantage of opportunities,” Landry said. “We did that a little bit better today than yesterday and we’ve just got to grow from there.”
That ended Pastime’s threat in the fifth but the sixth was nearly a carbon copy. Another leadoff walk for Turgeon and error opened the door to a 5-0 lead.
Belanger hit a slow bouncer down the first base line that Brooks picked up too late to get Belanger as he sped through the bag and Turgeon scored. Landry followed with a bloop single to right score Evan Cox.
“I was just relaxing out there, forgetting everything off the field and just going out there and kind of doing my thing,” said Landry, who also reached on a hit by pitch.
Pastime added a run in the seventh on Turgeon’s two-out RBI single and two in the eighth on a wild pitch and a bases-loaded walk to Richardson.
“We really executed some bunts, some hit-and-runs, we got good jumps and we really executed in big spots,” Brown said. “Yesterday, we had some big spots and just couldn’t get the runs in. Today, we did a good job getting those runs in late in the game.”
“We’ve played a lot of baseball in the last week and I think today, unfortunately, it caught up with the guys a little bit,” Brewer coach Shane Graham said.
Brewer spoiled the shutout with Chase Carmichael’s one-out RBI double in the seventh.
Richardson lasted until he reached the 120 pitch limit after giving out a one out single in the ninth. Landry relieved him and ended it with two pop outs.
“(Richardson) was excellent today,” Graham said. “He was keeping guys off-balance all day, changed speeds, even the eye level. He was in-and-out all day long. It was a really great effort on his part today.”
Belanger had two hits, drove in two and scored twice for Pastime’s 10-hit attack. Kobe Rogerson had two hits, including a double, for Brewer.
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