KITTERY — Roderick Maynard pitched four scoreless innings and Sacopee Valley capitalized on several defensive lapses to earn a 7-1 win over Traip Academy in a Western Maine Conference baseball game Friday.

Maynard allowed just one hit but wasn’t as sharp as usual. The southpaw walked two and struck out five and was pulled despite throwing only 62 pitches.

“(Maynard) was struggling with his command today, that’s why we wanted to get him out,” said Sacopee Valley Coach Eric Anderson. “He tweaked his back a little bit on Wednesday so we didn’t want to go too far.”

“I just didn’t perform the way I wanted to today,” said Maynard. “My command was off, but these are things I can work (on).”

Maynard reached base all four times he came to the plate. He drew three walks and had a bunt single.

“I went up with a small strike zone and waited for my pitch. On the bunt, the third baseman was playing by shortstop so I laid the bunt down the third-base line and got on,” said Maynard.

Kyle Jordan earned the save for the Hawks (13-1). He struck out five, walked three and gave up two hits in the last three innings.

Traip (8-7) committed six errors, including two in both the second and fifth innings. The Hawks pushed across three runs in each inning – only one of the runs was earned.

“We can’t beat anyone with six errors, especially Sacopee. Normally we’re pretty good defensively, so that was surprising,” said Traip Coach Seth Cole.

Sacopee Valley, the reigning Western Class C champion, was held to five hits.

“We have a really good hitting team, we just can’t seem to get everybody going at the same time,” said Anderson.

Shane MacNeil took the loss for Traip, lasting four innings and giving up three runs (one earned) on just three hits. He walked three and struck out three.

“I was very impressed with Shane. That was his first start this year, he’s only a freshman. I like what I see. It’s going to be exciting to watch over the next three years,” said Cole.

Traip Academy scored on a dropped infield fly ball to shallow right field, allowing Charlie Driscoll to scamper home from third.

Sacopee Valley got on the board in the second inning when D.J. Shea scored on an error. Two batters later, another error allowed Brandon Burnell and Mike Pingree to score.

The Hawks pulled away in the fifth, getting two runs on an error and another on a wild pitch.