Thornton Academy 7

Bonny Eagle 2

A pair of three run innings and a solid pitching performance from Matt Roberts led to a Thornton Academy win over Bonny Eagle, 7-2 on Saturday. Steve Trask hit a two-run homer in the first inning and Dan Edgerly also knocked in a pair of runs for the Trojans.

“I wish there was a fence in the outfield,” said Thornton coach Greg Paradis. “I think we would have had five or six home runs. We came out swinging, I like the way that our kids swung the bat, but it would have been nice to have a fence here.”

The Trojans started quickly with the second batter of the game, Matt Leach singling. But with Robbie Trask at the plate, Leach was caught trying to steal third. Trask doubled and Thornton had another runner in scoring position.

Josh Velten singled Robbie Trask home for a quick 1-0 Trojans lead. With Velten on first, Steve Trask launched a fly ball to deep left center field that was over everybody. Velten scored easily and Trask scored on a headfirst slide to give Thornton a 3-0 lead.

“They are a good team,” said Bonny Eagle coach Marc Sawyer. “They obviously hit the ball well. I was teasing their coach and our athletic director earlier about wanting to put in a temporary fence. There are a few teams in the league you don’t want to put a fence around and this is one of them.”

In the bottom half of the inning, the Scots got back two of those runs, Josh Ruby singled and Nick Winslow reached on an infield single. The Scots had their first two batters on with no outs. Roberts got Ricky Hoyt to pop up and struck out Casey McKague. The Trojans came within a strike of getting out of the inning with no runs but Joe Davis singled to score Ruby and Winslow.

The score remained 3-2 until the top of the third. Robbie Trask got things going with his second double of the game. That was followed by a walk to Velten. Steve Trask hit another deep fly ball but this one was caught by Hoyt. That allowed Robbie Trask to tag up and take third. With two outs, Kory Martin doubled in Trask and the Trojans lead was 4-2, the next batter, Edgerly, singled in Velten and Martin to give his team a 6-1 advantage.

On the other side, Roberts had settled in and was putting up zeroes. Bonny Eagle threatened in the third, but couldn’t score. The Scots were set down in order in the fourth and threatened again in the fifth but didn’t score.

“Matt pitched well,” said Paradis. “He has always been a guy to pound the strike zone and force the team to beat us. He isn’t going to walk a lot of guys and that’s a good thing. He got the win against Westbrook when he came in relief and he got the win today so I’m proud of him.”

Thornton tacked on another run in the fourth when Josh Sheehan scored on a sacrifice fly by Leach.

With the win, the Trojans improved to 7-1 on the year. The Scots fell to 5-3.

“Bonny Eagle is a good club, a good young club,” said Paradis. “They have a bunch of wins. They have beaten some quality clubs in our league. I knew this would be a tough game they are well coached. I know Marc (Sawyer) from way back. He does a good job and is trying to build something here and I think he’s on the right road.”

The Scots 5-3 record is a vast improvement over this time last year when they were still looking for win number one.

“Halfway through the year we’re 5-3,” Sawyer said. “I’m not sure many people would have given us that mark. I was telling the guys at the half-year break if we were being graded we would get pretty good marks. I’m proud of what we have done but I’m not content with where we are. There is a lot of season left, eight games, and hopefully we’ll be around to play that second season.”

Last Thursday, Leach scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh as Thornton topped Westbrook 6-5 in Saco.

Thornton went up 5-1 with a big third inning, but Westbrook rallied for two runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth to tie it up. The Blue Blazes had the go-ahead run in scoring position with no outs in the top of the seventh after Christian Hamilton singled and advanced on an error.

Roberts, working in relief of starter Leach (4.2 innings pitched, 3 runs, 1 earned run, 3 hits, 4 strike outs, 4 walks) and Velten (.2 innings, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, 2 hits, 2 walks), induced two grounders to third that didn’t allow Hamilton to advance, followed by a popup to second to end the inning. Roberts worked 1.2 innings to earn the win. He allowed one hit and no runs.

Leach led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a standup double to right field.

“I was due,” Leach said. “I’d been 0-for-3 on the day. I was just trying to make contact and get on base. The wind carried it out there and I ended up second.”

Leach advanced to third on a wild pitch, then scored on Steve Trask’s sacrifice fly to end the game.

“These guys have won before in extra innings,” Paradis said. “They’ve won before in the bottom of the seventh. I think they thrive in that situation. I think we get better at bats, I think we make better contact. I think we play better on the base paths. It’s good to be in that situation. It’s a playoff-type atmosphere.”

Westbrook scored an unearned run in the first and held a 1-0 lead until Thornton scored five in the third. Robbie Trask drove in two runs with a single, Martin added a two-run triple, and Steve Trask had an RBI sacrifice fly.

Westbrook’s Scott Heath singled in the fifth to drive in Zach Gardiner, who reached on a walk and advanced on a bunt and balk. Heath advanced to third on an error and scored on Hamilton’s single.

Shawn McAlpine and Tyler Kelly each singled and came around to score in the sixth for the Blue Blazes to tie it at 5-5. McAlpine started and took the loss for Westbrook. He pitched six full innings and surrendered Leach’s double in the seventh before being relieved by Heath. McAlpine allowed six runs, three of them earned, on nine hits, while striking out six and walking a pair.

Additional material by sports reporter Tom Minervino