ELIOT — The fear of losing in the early rounds of the Western Class A baseball playoffs is never far from the minds of the Marshwood players.

Even though the bulk of the Hawks are juniors, they remember as freshmen two years ago when visiting Bonny Eagle upset heavily favored Marshwood in the quarterfinals.

Fourth-ranked Marshwood (14-3) made sure such a thing wouldn’t happen this time as it got off to a quick start against fifth-ranked Scarborough (10-7-1) and went on for a 4-1 win in the regional quarterfinals Thursday afternoon.

The Hawks will play at top-ranked South Portland at 2 p.m. Saturday in the semifinals.

Big right-hander Jake Lebel pitched a strong game before being relieved by hard-throwing Zack Quintal with two outs in the sixth. Lebel had a line-drive double down the left-field line in the third inning to drive home Noah McDaniel for the third run. It was the hardest-hit ball of the game although Scarborough stung a couple, both by Zach Carriero, one that was caught and the other going for a double in the sixth.

“We remember what happened two years ago in the quarterfinals and we didn’t want it to happen again,” said Lebel, who scattered seven hits and was able to retire the Red Storm when they got men on base.

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The biggest surprise was the fact Scarborough didn’t start its ace, Ben Greenberg, opting to throw junior left-hander Sam Warren. Coach Ryan Jones put in Greenberg with two outs in the bottom of the third.

“Marshwood had already seen Ben for 14 innings in two regular- season games,” said Jones.

“I figured if Sam could get us once through their order, Ben would be able to take the second and third time through the order. We wanted to get the lead to put Ben in. Unfortunately we never got it. We were trying to ride Sam as far as we could. I didn’t know how Marshwood would fare off a lefty. We have a lot of confidence in Sam and we’re not going to have a better guy closing out the game than Ben Greenberg. That was the plan,” said Jones.

Warren actually pitched OK, but was a little wild at the start, which enabled the Hawks to take a 2-0 lead in the first.

“We kind of gave them those two runs in the first,” said Jones.

Warren walked the leadoff batter, Quintal, who stole second and went to third on a fielder’s choice. After a fly out, Lebel walked and stole second. Quintal broke for home on Lebel’s steal and scored on a throwing error. Lebel scored on a wild pitch.

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Warren didn’t give up a hit until Lebel’s double in the third with two outs. Luke Stankovich drove in Lebel with a single through the middle. After another walk by Warren, Jones brought in Greenberg with the difference in velocity forcing the Hawks to adjust. They didn’t as Greenberg didn’t allow a hit the rest of the way.

The Hawks had defeated Scarborough and Greenberg in their two regular-season games.

“I was a little surprised Greenberg didn’t start,” said Marshwood Coach Eric Fernandes. “I hadn’t seen the other guy.”

Scarborough left nine men on base.

“That’s kind of been the story of our year, missing that timely hit,” said Jones.

“We definitely had our chances. Today was an uphill battle the whole way. We were never in control. It’s tough to win when you score only one run. I’m really proud of the guys for the year we had. From where we started, 0-4, and to reach the quarterfinals is pretty good.”

The Red Storm scored their only run when Carriero doubled over the right fielder’s head, leading off the sixth. Cam Brochu’s single brought him home. The Red Storm had runners on second and third in both the first and third innings.

The hard-throwing Quintal relieved Lebel with two outs in the sixth and got Nick Lorello to line sharply to second. In the seventh, Quintal retired the side in order, fanning the first two batters.

The loss saw an end to Greenberg’s standout high school baseball career. His first three times up he reached third base, but there was no timely hit to get him home. Greenberg, who also played quarterback in football, will attend Fordham University in New York City on a baseball scholarship.


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