YARMOUTH – Sawyer Williams has learned that relying on his defense can make life on the mound a little easier.

Williams put together an economical performance Wednesday, using only 74 pitches to lead Freeport to a 7-0 victory against Yarmouth in a Western Maine Conference baseball game.

“I felt like I had pretty good control today,” said Williams (4-1) after allowing seven hits in his first shutout of the year. “When I have good control I know my team is there to back me up. It’s great to know that even if I have a wild pitch or something might be hit deep, I’m always going to have the defense there. It really helps me keep in control on the mound.”

Sawyer allowed a base runner in every inning, enticing Yarmouth (8-6) to constantly put the ball in play.

“One of the things that we’ve worked on with Sawyer is if it’s not the tying run or go-ahead run, then don’t worry about it so much,” said Freeport Coach Hank Ogilby.

“He can get distracted by runners a little bit and we’ve been working all season on focusing on the batter, especially when you have a lead. We don’t want runs to come in but if the run is not the tying run, then let’s get the outs. He’s gotten a lot better at that as the year has gone on.”

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Leading 2-0 in the fifth, Sawyer was presented with his toughest challenge. He hit Mark Brown to lead off the inning. Two wild pitches later, Brown was at third with no outs. Sawyer got out of the inning with a groundout to third, his only strikeout and a fielder’s choice.

“Normally we would do something creative to get (Brown) in,” said Yarmouth Coach Marc Halsted. “We’re 1-2-3 in the order. Why not just wait for somebody to rip a ball in the gap?

“That was definitely a turning point because if we get one or two, then it’s a different ball game.”

The Falcons (10-4) scored in the first and third innings to build a 2-0 lead.

Connor Dietrich doubled in the first and scored on a single by Nick Cartmell. In the third, Niko DiFazio led off with a single and stole second. With one out, Dietrich hit a sharp grounder to deep short that Thomas Sullivan knocked down but couldn’t field cleanly. DiFazio was running on the play and used the bobble to score from second.

Sawyer put down a bunt to load the bases and help his cause in the sixth, when the Falcons padded their lead by scoring five runs in a bat-around inning.

Yarmouth starter Chester Jacobs (3-3) allowed all seven runs on 10 hits, striking out four in six innings.

 


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