South Portland 10

Sanford 4

The South Portland baseball team scored nine runs in the first four innings Thursday against Sanford and cruised to a 10-4 win. Ryan Curit knocked in four runs for the Red Riots, who improved to 4-6.

“We’re getting better,” said South Portland head coach Tony DiBiase. “We’ve scored a bunch of runs in the last few games. We have a very young team with four or five sophomores out there. They are starting to get the idea of what Class A baseball is all about.”

Mike Foley led off the game with a single for the Riots. He stole second with Josh Mackie at the plate. Mackie grounded into a fielder’s choice and Foley moved to third. Foley scored the first run of the game when John Carey singled him in. Sanford starter Alex MacKay got the next two hitters in a row and the threat was over. But the Riots already had a 1-0 lead.

South Portland starter Nick Folan made quick work of the Redskins in the first with a pair of strikeouts to Matt Matoin and Brett Wallingford. Ryan Fortier put the ball in play, but it was a ground ball back to the mound and Folan retired the side in order.

“This is (Folan’s) first year of varsity,” DiBiase said. “He started out very well. This is his third very good start. And he’s getting better as he goes along. They hit him hard a couple of times but for the most part I thought he pitched well.”

The Riots tacked on a couple more runs in the second. David Hardison started things off with a one out single. Two batters later, Chris Biskup reached on an infield single. An errant pickoff throw from MacKay allowed Hardison to score and Biskup to move to second. Biskup later scored on a wild pitch. The Riots were making their own breaks with aggressive base running.

“(Aggressive running) got us in scoring position,” said DiBiase. “Any time you are aggressive you kind of feed off that offensively. And guys hitting with runners in scoring position can be aggressive with the bats. I thought that was important. And for us to hit the ball well off a very good pitcher like MacKay was very good.”

Sanford got those two runs right back. Aaron Gauthier led off with a single and moved to second on a balk. After a fly ball to right, MacKay came to the plate looking to help his cause. MacKay doubled to score Gauthier and the Redskins were on the board. Two batters later, Justin Young singled to score MacKay and South Portland’s lead was now 3-2. But Folan managed to escape without further damage.

In the third, the Riots struck again. Will Furbush worked a one out walk and stole second. Matt Lee then singled. Curit then hit a pop into shallow center that was misplayed allowing Furbush to score. Hardison then singled to score Curit.

“It’s an error here and an error there,” said Sanford assistant coach Dave McKechnie. “It seems like we’ve been putting those errors together at the worst possible times and letting them hurt us.”

Sanford did put up a run in the bottom of the inning but could have had more. Wallingford started things with a single. Fortier doubled and the Redskins had two in scoring position with no one out. Gauthier then singled to score Wallingford. Folan worked his way out of trouble by getting Ron Clark to pop up and by striking out MacKay and Spencer Perkins.

The Riots broke it open with four runs in the fourth. Furbush drove in Foley, Lee drove in Mackie and Curit delivered the big blow with a triple to score Furbush and Lee. That gave South Portland a 9-3 lead and chased MacKay from the game.

Sanford got one back in the bottom of the inning when Wallingford drove in Matoin but that was all they would get. The Riots added their final run in the sixth for a 10-4 win.

The Redskins fell to 3-7 with the loss.