YARMOUTH – Cape Elizabeth Coach Chris Hayward thought about taking pitcher Will LeBlond out of the game in the fifth inning.

“And in the sixth,” he said. “And the seventh. And the eighth. And the ninth …”

But every time LeBlond, a senior, came back to the dugout, he told Hayward he was fine.

And he was. LeBlond pitched a magnificent game Saturday afternoon, leading the ninth-seeded Capers to yet another Western Class B baseball upset, this time beating fourth-seeded Yarmouth 7-1 in 10 innings.

LeBlond allowed seven hits and appeared to get stronger as the game went on. He threw 108 pitches.

“I don’t want to sound selfish, but when I get the ball, I want to go the whole way,” said LeBlond.

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Cape Elizabeth (11-8) will play in Wednesday’s Western Class B championship game at St. Joseph’s College against the winner of Monday’s matchup between Morse and Falmouth.

The Capers lost twice to Yarmouth (11-7) in the regular season, but this time made the plays that made the difference.

LeBlond picked two runners off first and the Capers cut down a runner at the plate on an attempted squeeze play. Catcher Seth Dobieski made a lunging catch of a popped-up bunt, turning it into a double play

And center fielder Connor McGuire saved Cape’s season in the bottom of the ninth.

Yarmouth had a runner on second when Max Grimm hit a liner to left-center. McGuire sprinted to his right and dived to catch the ball inches off the ground.

“I knew I had to do everything I could to stop the ball,” said McGuire, a junior. “I knew if I didn’t go into a dive, we were going to lose and we’d be going home.”

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In the 10th, the Capers had five hits and were aided by three Yarmouth errors.

Sam Kozlowski led off with a walk, took second on a bunt by Charlie Laprade and stole third. Maguire, the No. 9 hitter, rolled a slow grounder into the shortstop hole for a single, with Kozlowski scoring. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch, then Matty Pierce laid down a squeeze bunt to make it 3-1.

Chris Robicheaw, Zach Culver and Laprade also drove in runs. Another scored on an error.

“It’s killing me right now,” said Yarmouth Coach Marc Halsted. “But Chris Hayward is the best coach in our league for a reason, and LeBlond is just a man. That was a phenomenal performance on three days’ rest.”

Once the Capers gave LeBlond the lead, he needed only eight pitches to finish off Yarmouth.

“We played some incredible defense,” said LeBlond. “I really didn’t do too much. The defense just played incredibly.”

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Cape Elizabeth scored in the third on a sacrifice fly by Pierce. Yarmouth tied it in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single by starting pitcher Nick Lainey.

Staff Writer Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or at:

mlowe@pressherald.com

Twitter: MikeLowePPH

CORRECTION: This story was updated Sunday, June 10 to reflect that Cape Elizabeth will play for the Class B championship Wednesday against the winner of Monday’s matchup between Morse and Falmouth.


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