Thornton Academy capitalized early on some shoddy fielding by the Gorham infield and got seven straight outs from closer Josh Velten to hold on for a 7-6 SMAA baseball victory on Saturday in Gorham.

Thornton improved to 10-1 while Gorham dropped to 6-5.

Thornton jumped on top in the first with four runs on four hits and three Gorham errors. The Rams committed eight errors in the game, seven in the first three innings.

Matt Leach of Thornton reached on an error with one out in the first, advanced to third on a single by Velten, and scored on Steve Trask’s single to left field. Kory Martin followed with a single before Dan Edgerly and Scott Madden reached on errors, scoring Velten and Trask. Sam Canales, batting ninth and playing shortstop in place of the injured Robbie Trask, knocked Martin in with a single.

“They’re 10-1 for a reason,” said Gorham coach Rocky Myers. “You can’t spot a team that is 10-1 that many mistakes and that many runs early. This (Gorham) team has done that all year. We’re getting grossly behind in the first inning and we can’t overcome it. I’m stuck on what to do at the beginning to get them ready for a game. We’re getting outscored so grossly in the first inning that it’s hard to bounce back.”

The Rams got two runs back in the bottom of the first. Joel Mundy and Brian Jenkins walked to lead off. Kyle Butterfield doubled to score Mundy and Kyle Donaldson walked to load the bases with no outs. Jon Dahms grounded into a double play, scoring Jenkins. Thornton starter Matt Roberts struck out Sean Grandmaison to escape further damage.

The Golden Trojans added a run in the second on Edgerly’s RBI single, and scored two more in the third as Canales reached on an infield single and came around to score on an error. Dan Ingraham reached on an error and later scored on Velten’s sacrifice fly.

Donaldson singled and scored on Grandmaison’s double in the bottom of the third to make it 7-3.

At 7-3 in the fifth, Thornton’s Josh Sheehan was called safe on a close play at third base following a rundown. Several Gorham players were clearly upset with the call, prompting Myers, who was just outside the Gorham dugout on the third base side, to unleash an outburst that could be heard in the stands across the field.

“If the game was closer and I had more interest, I’d yell because it was the wrong call,” Myers said. “But I’m not that interested. We’ve made 700 errors.”

The Rams rallied for three runs in the bottom of the fifth off Trask, who relieved Roberts in the fourth. Dahms hit a triple to score Nick Gowen, and then came home on an error. Grandmaison walked and scored on a bases-loaded walk. With the bases loaded and two outs, Velten relieved Trask and got Jenkins to ground out. Velten retired the Rams in order in the sixth and seventh, striking out three.

“That was a real nice day for (Velten), coming in and throwing strikes,” said Thornton coach Greg Paradis. “His fastball moves all over the place, so he’s a difficult guy to hit.”

Robbie Trask missed his third straight game for Thornton with a pulled back muscle.

“We’re not very healthy right now,” Paradis said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who are banged up, who are not playing at 100 percent. And they’re a good team. They’ve got six wins. They’re well-coached. We always have tight games. We have a little bit of a history, so it’s nice. That’s a good win for us. I’m happy as heck.”

There were no moral victories for the Rams. Despite rallying back to make a game of it against the Golden Trojans, Myers was not pleased with his team’s effort.

“I think when you’re talking about some of the bottom teams in the league, they’d be happy as heck (with a one-run loss), but we expect to win these games,” Myers said. “I’m just not happy. We lost a game that we gave away. I don’t know that there’s any way you feel good about that.”

Ben Smart worked four innings of scoreless relief for Gorham.