TOPSHAM

Eight losses in a row is what the Mt. Ararat High School baseball team had endured coming into Friday’s Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference contest with Skowhegan, a squad coming off a victory over previously undefeated Bangor on Wednesday and one spot out of an Eastern Maine Class A playoff spot.

The Eagles definitely put a major snag into the Indians’ chances for the postseason after an 8-0 victory, ending the long skid.

“This is probably one of our best-played games of the year,” said Mt. Ararat coach Bob Neron after his team improved to 3-9 and visits Erskine Academy today at 4 p.m. “We played decent defense (one error) and didn’t give them anything.”

Pitcher Torrey Charnock was dominant. He struck out 12 Skowhegan (5-7) hitters, including seven on calledthird strikes. His fastball remained on the corners throughout, mixing in a biting curveball to keep the Indians off-balance.

“Torrey Charnock set the tone in the first inning, letting them know what they had to deal with,” said Neron. “As a fielder, you love to see a pitcher get the ball and throw a pitch. The guys were on their toes, ready to make a play.”

“I knew what I wanted to do coming into the game, and just wanted to get into the rhythm to pitch,” said Charnock, who allowed just one hit, an infield single to Skowhegan’s Trevor Hisler in the third inning, and threw 104 pitches. “Us scoring a few runs early took a lot of pressure off of me, and I trusted the guys and just tried to throw strikes. They came through in the field.”

Weird first frame

Charnock walked Hisler to begin the game, but catcher Sam Coombs threw Skowhegan’s lead-off hitter out at second base on a steal attempt, with Charnock recording consecutive strikeouts to end the frame.

The bottom of the first inning was a nightmare for Skowhegan. Starting pitcher Derek McCarty walked Charnock and Joey Van Note singled. After a second pitch to Trent Charnock, McCarty bent over in pain, clutching his pitching arm.

Ben Salley relieved, but on his fourth pitch, Trent Charnock hit a hard liner up the middle, with the ball striking Salley in the face. Torrey Charnock scored on the play, and the Skowhegan pitcher walked off the field on his own power.

Kam Nelson came on to pitch for the Indians, the third pitcher in just four batters. Nelson did the job, escaping further damage with a comebacker and a pair of strikeouts to keep his team down just 1-0.

Mt. Ararat gave its pitcher some breathing room in the third. Van Note reached on an error and Trent Charnock singled, putting two runners on with no outs. Ryan Lathrop dropped a sacrifice bunt to move the runners into scoring position. Joe Ashouwak ripped an RBI single, and later scored on a single by Brendan Glass for a 3-0 Eagles lead.

“We had runners on, and as long as the guys are putting the ball into play, we feel good about that,” said Neron.

Torrey Charnock found a groove, retiring 11 consecutive Skowhegan hitters, six on strikeouts.

“Today, we were able to put it all together,” said the pitcher.

Mt. Ararat broke the game open in the sixth frame, plating five runs to go up 8-0. Van Note had a two-run double, and Lathrop drove in a pair of runs with a single. Trent Charnock, who was 3-for-4, also picked up an RBI single.

Torrey Charnock ran into trouble in the seventh as Skowhegan put two runners on. But, a strikeout and groundball ended the game, and more importantly, the losing streak.

“I am just happy for the guys,” said Neron. “I hope we can build on this and finish strong. We can make it tough on guys ahead of us. Our goal is to do that, and I think these guys are up for the challenge.”

Van Note and Lathrop both finished with two hits.

Mt. Ararat 8,
Skowhegan 0

At Mt. Ararat High School
Skowhegan — 000 000 0 — 0- 1-3
Mt. Ararat — 102 005 X — 8-12-1
Derek McCarty, Ben Salley (1), Kam
Nelson (1) and Henry Arnetti; Torrey
Charnock and Sam Coombs.
Double — (MA) Joey Van Note.
Repeat hitters — (MA) Joey Van Note,
Trent Charnock (2), Ryan Lathrop.
Records — Mt. Ararat 3-9, Skowhegan
5-7.
Next for the Eagles — Today at Erskine
Academy, 4 p.m.