YARMOUTH — Falmouth is competing for a first-round bye in the Western Class A baseball playoffs. Yarmouth is competing to make the Western Class B playoffs.
The Western Maine Conference rivals squared off Friday and Falmouth, one of the hottest teams in Class A, had all it could do to fend off the Clippers for a 5-4 victory.
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Falmouth (13-2) found itself in a 3-0 hole through two innings, then took the lead and held on through a rainy seventh inning for its ninth straight victory.
Falmouth, up from Class B because of rising enrollment, rose from third to second in the Heal point standings. The top four teams avoid the preliminary round and move right to the June 12 quarterfinals.
Yarmouth remained in 10th place in Western Class B, the final spot to make the playoffs.
“We’re just trying to get a top- four seed,” said Addison Foltmer, whose sacrifice fly to right in the fifth inning for Falmouth broke a 4-4 tie. “We didn’t play our best baseball today. Yarmouth made the plays. We were just looking to chip away, get baserunners on and get some timely hits, which we did. We’re looking to play our best baseball in the playoffs.”
Falmouth closes the regular season Tuesday at Poland.
Yarmouth loaded the bases off freshman Cam Guarino with no outs in the second. A bloop single by Luke Klenda scored one run. Another bloop single, this one by Cody Cook, scored another and an error accounted for the third.
“It’s a rivalry game with Yarmouth and they came out ready to play and we didn’t,” said Falmouth Coach Kevin Winship. “They were aggressive and we kind of sat back on our heels. But we got things going for ourselves and got the win.”
Falmouth got its offense going with two outs and a runner on in the third, stringing three hits together by Connor Aube, Will D’Agostino and Luke Velas – a two-run single that brought the Yachtsmen within 3-2.
Yarmouth took a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the third when Connor Lainey walked, stole second and easily scored when Klenda hit a line shot over Foltmer’s head in right.
The Yachtsmen cut it to 4-3 in the fourth when Colin Coyne scored from third on a passed ball.
Falmouth tied it in the fifth on D’Agostino’s RBI single. Later in the inning, Velas walked, stole second, went to third when the throw went into center, then scored on Foltmer’s sacrifice fly.
“Addison has been doing that for us all year,” said Winship. “He gets the big hit or comes through with a sacrifice fly when we need it. He does the little things that win games.”
Cook singled for Yarmouth in the seventh, then stole second base.
Coach Marc Halsted called for a bunt and run but when the batter failed to bunt, Cook was easily thrown out trying to steal third.
“He’s leaving early and trying to score from second,” said Halsted. “If he gets that bunt down we score from second. We’re always going to try to be the aggressor. The thing is if we get him to third, there are a lot of ways to score. We want to make things happen. That’s the way we’ve always been. In order to beat a good team like Falmouth, we have to seize the opportunity.”
Tom Chard can be reached at 791-6419 or at
tchard@pressherald.com
Twitter: TomChardPPH
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