BRUNSWICK – Matt Chart tossed a three-hitter with eight strikeouts, and Brunswick pushed across an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh inning Friday for a 2-1 win over Mt. Ararat in a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference baseball game.

After pitching out of bases-loaded jams in the third and fourth innings, Mt. Ararat’s Torrey Charnock breezed through the fifth and sixth, the lone base runner coming on an error. But Chart led off the seventh with a ground single up the middle, starting the winning rally.

Brunswick Coach Peter Blake called for a bunt from Carl Sickle, and when Charnock fell trying to field the ball, the Dragons had runners at first and second with no outs.

Conor Kelly likewise squared to bunt but was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Mt. Ararat Coach Bruce Kingdon had to bring the infield in to try to cut down the winning run at the plate.

The Eagles caught a break when Charnock bounced a pitch that got past catcher Cam Morrell but hit the umpire, keeping Chart at third. Chart was forced at the plate on a grounder.

Cleanup hitter Jack Faherty then attempted a suicide squeeze, but his bunt went foul. On a 2-2 pitch, Faherty ripped a hard grounder to the right side that was misplayed, and Sickel trotted home with the winning run.

“Peter did what he had to do,” Kingdon said of Blake’s strategy in the seventh inning. “I’d have gone for the squeeze, too. But it was a good, competitive game. I enjoy these much more than a 10-run game.”

Asked if he had considered going for the squeeze again with two strikes on Faherty, Blake said, “No, he’s my best hitter, and he was due.”

Mt. Ararat (2-2) scored in the second inning, getting two of its three hits. Morrell led off with a single to left, moved to third on a fielder’s choice and wild pitch, and came in when Elliot Swan dropped a single into short left.

Charnock retired seven of the first eight Brunswick batters, but control problems allowed the Dragons (3-2) to tie it in the third. With one out, Charnock hit both Chart and Sickel, then threw a wild pitch to advance the runners before walking Kelly. Chart wandered too far off third, however, and was cut down as Kelly was heading to first.

That cost Brunswick at least one run, as Anthony Viola lined a double into the left-field gap to drive home Sickel.

 

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