SCARBOROUGH – After seven outstanding innings on the mound Saturday, Ben Wessel did exactly what he usually does.

He went right back out and worked on the mound.

“It’s our home mound so we have to take care of it after every outing,” Wessel said after tending to his area on the Scarborough field. “We want it to be as nice as it can be. So that’s what the pitchers do after every game and every practice.”

Even when you just tossed a three-hit shutout, struck out nine and homered to lead your team to a 2-0 victory against Cheverus?

“No matter what happens in the game, that’s what we do,” Wessel said. “I like to do that so it’s normal to me.”

Wessel, who is 4-0 on a team that’s 7-1, delivered what Coach Mike Coutts described as the best pitching performance he’s seen from Wessel in two seasons.

Wessel, who agreed with the assessment, allowed only six base runners and got himself out of the rare trouble he encountered with exceptional off-speed pitches.

“It was a game that you expect him to go pitch,” said Coutts. “He’s going to go play Division I (at the University of Rhode Island) and you expect him to be able to go and dominate.

“He got his breaking ball over for strikes, he hit both sides of the plate and he spotted up well. He was awesome.”

Harry Ridge was also in top form for Cheverus (5-3), which set the stage for a tremendous pitching duel.

Ridge matched Wessel nearly pitch for pitch through the first four innings before surrendering Wessel’s two-run homer in the fifth.

Ridge allowed only two hits while striking out nine.

“Two good pitchers met each other and Scarborough won that one,” said Cheverus Coach Mac McKew, who liked his team’s bounce-back effort after a shocking loss Friday to Kennebunk.

“I think it’s pretty much that simple. “Harry pitched great. Ben Wessel pitched great. It was a nice crisp game that came down to one mistake. In that type of game, one pitch is going to make the difference.”

The Red Storm broke through in the fifth after Ridge hit Brendan Hall with one out.

Wessel followed with a wind-aided line shot that easily cleared the right-field fence.

“(Ridge) was going inside on me the previous two at-bats and I was having a hard time timing it up,” said Wessel. “In my third at-bat I took a couple of pitches, he threw a couple of breaking balls and I got my timing down. Then he came inside again.

“I was waiting for it and I got a good piece of the fastball.”

Cheverus managed to get a runner in scoring position in each of the final four innings against the Red Storm but failed to come up with a timely hit for a run.

 

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