BANGOR — Some incomplete innings by Lewiston’s offense and a couple of unrelenting innings by Bangor’s ended the fourth-seeded Blue Devils’ season Saturday.
Zach Ireland went 4-for-5 with five RBIs and Zach Murray added four hits, including a double, to power the top-seeded Rams past Lewiston, 14-6, in the Class A North baseball semifinals at Mansfield Stadium.
The Rams (17-1), winners of the last four state and regional titles, will face No. 2 Oxford Hills in the regional final at 5 p.m. on Tuesday at Morton Field in Augusta.
Lewiston took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but set a tone of frustration by leaving the bases loaded. The Blue Devils would go on to strand nine base runners through the first four innings and 11 for the game.
“We kind of did what we’d done at times this season — we left too many guys on base early and we couldn’t get them out when we needed to in that one inning,” Lewiston coach Darren Hartley said.
“That one inning” was Bangor’s fifth. Trailing 4-2, Bangor exploded for seven runs, keyed by a couple of Lewiston errors and a bases-clearing triple by Ireland.
Evan Cox, who led the Devils offensively by going 3-for-4, pulled his team back to within 9-6 with a two-run single in the sixth. But Bangor answered with five more in the bottom of the frame to pull away.
“They’re relentless, and they score in bunches,” Hartley said of Bangor. “Ireland, their No. 2 hitter, and Murray, their No. 5 hitter, killed us.”
Bangor pitcher Karl Sund and Carson Prouty flirted with danger all day, yielding a combined eight hits, but minimized the damage enough to give their offense a chance to win the game.
“I knew about (Bangor’s top pitchers Zach) Cowperthwaite and (Noah) Missbrenner,” Hartley said, “but those ‘other’ guys performed as advertised. They threw strikes. They’re not overpowering, but their guys in the field made plays.”
Elias Atkins had two hits, including a double, and also reached on a walk for the Devils. Cooper Millett chipped in with two hits.
Lewiston graduates five seniors from a team that finished 13-5 and reached the regional semifinals for the first time since 2012.
Hartley, having wrapped up his first year as the Devils’ coach, thinks they aren’t that far away from making an even deeper tournament run.
“We know the models for winning are built in Bangor and Oxford Hills, and it shows with them going to the regional final,” he said. “I’m trying to copy that model for our guys. It’s a model we need to copy to get better.”
Wells 12, Mountain Valley 6
WELLS — Micheal Wrigley drove in five runs on five hits as first-seeded Wells took down fifth-seeded Mountain Valley 12-6 in a Class B baseball semifinal Saturday.
Wells scored three runs in the first and four in the third to put the game out of reach of the Falcons. While Wrigley paced Wells, Liam Bell also chipped in with two hits and four runs for the Warriors. Cam Cousins earned the win.
Garrett Garbarini led Mountain Valley with a pair of RBIs, while Curtin Gauvin hit a double. Wells will face third-seeded Greely in the B South finals on Wednesday.
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