GORHAM — David Drew delivered an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift Gorham to a 1-0 win over Portland in an SMAA baseball game Saturday morning.

Gorham improved to 10-5, while Portland fell to 11-4.

“(Portland) is one of the top teams in the conference,” said Gorham Coach Chuck Nadeau. “You have to play cleanly to beat them and we did that today.”

Kyle King led off the bottom of the seventh inning with an infield single. Then, with two outs and King on second, Drew – the team’s No. 9 hitter – connected for a line drive up the middle that skipped into center field, sending King home with the winning run.

“We finally got a timely hit. We’ve been struggling with that, so it was nice to get a big hit when we needed it,” said Nadeau.

This game featured a great pitching duel between Logan Drouin of Gorham and Charles Barnard for Portland.

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Barnard took a tough loss, throwing a complete game and allowing just four hits.

“(Barnard) pitched great. He lost an extra-inning game to Thornton Academy and lost a great game today. We pitched great and had great defense,” said Portland Coach Mike Rutherford.

Drouin did not factor into the decision, as he lasted 62/3 innings, allowing six hits and three walks while striking out six.

“Logan was great all day. We got the big outs when we needed them,” said Nadeau.

Drouin found himself in some trouble in the top of the seventh after allowing the first two batters to reach base, then uncorking a wild pitch that put runners on second and third with nobody out.

The next batter hit a comebacker that deflected off Drouin’s glove to second base. The runner on third held, but drifted off the bag and considered trying to score once he saw the ball kick to second base.

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“He froze and it was just poor base running,” said Rutherford. “There were two guys on and we didn’t run the bases the right way, but give (Gorham) credit because they made the play.”

After the out was recorded at first base, the runner on third got caught in a rundown and was eventually tagged out for the double play.

“(Portland) gave us an opportunity to get out of that inning and I was happy with the way we handled that,” said Nadeau. “Early in the season, we hadn’t handled that situation as well.”

Then next batter walked, ending Drouin’s outing.

“I always feel like I could go one more (batter),” said Drouin.

Sam Kilborn came on in relief and fired four fastballs to get a strikeout and end the inning..

“There’s three ways to win a game: great pitching, great defense and timely hitting. We got two out of the three,” said Rutherford.


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