FREEPORT

Two similar line-drive shots inside the first-base bag turned the tide in Saturday’s Western Maine Conference high school baseball game.

Freeport hitter Sawyer Williams’ rocket was snagged by the dive of Falmouth first baseman Andrew Emple and turned into an inning-ending double play in the second inning, while Seamus Powers’ liner just eluded the dive of Freeport first baseman Kaleb Farmer for a two-run double.

The plays turned the tide Falmouth’s way in a 12-2 victory, giving the Yachtsmen a 13-2 mark, while the Falcons dropped their regular-season finale to fall to 10-6.

“They’re a very good hitting club,” said Freeport coach Hank Ogilby, whose team will enter the Western Maine Class B postseason anywhere from the seventh seed to the 12th, depending on how teams behind the Falcons do in their final games.

Good start

Things started well for Freeport, with pitcher Josh Weirich holding the Yachtsmen to a single through two innings, and shortstop Connor

Dietrich, second baseman Pat LaFlamme and first baseman Farmer combining on a double play.

In the Freeport second against Falmouth pitcher Thomas Fortier, Weirich lined a home run inches over the left-field fence, and when Farmer crushed a Fortier offering two pitches later, the Falcons had a 2-0 lead.

With Jared Knighton at second base after a single and a stolen base, Williams ripped a hard liner inside the firstbase bag, with Emple making the stab and throwing to second base for a double play, one of four on the day for Falmouth.

In the Falmouth third, an error on a groundball by Jeremy Lydick and a walk to Addison Foltmer started the frame. A one-out walk to Drew Proctor loaded the bases, and Powers delivered his two-run double to tie the game. A second Freeport error allowed Proctor to score the go-ahead run.

Weirich left the game after three innings, and Falmouth took advantage of the Freeport bullpen from there.

“Josh has been nursing a sore elbow, so we have been trying to limit him to one inning,” said Ogilby, who threw Farmer, Dietrich and James Purdy the rest of the way. “Our top two pitchers (Dan Burke and Sawyer Williams) were not eligible to pitch, so we went to the bullpen.”

Farmer allowed a run in the fourth, with Proctor driving in Foltmer with a single.

Falmouth put this one out of reach in the fifth, sending 11 hitters to the plate and scoring six runs for a 10-2 lead. Nick Spencer, Ryan Conley, Proctor and Powers each drove in one run in the frame, with Foltmer knocking in two with a single.

Freeport, coming off a 15- strikeout performance against Fryeburg on Friday, continued to swing the bats, but Fortier (six hits, three strikeouts) mixed things up enough to keep the Falcons off-balance.

“We were much more aggressive today, but some bone-head plays in the field didn’t help us,” said Ogilby, whose squad made three errors in the contest. “We’re going to take a break, and get back to some fundamentals. We’ve slipped into some bad habits, things we need to fix before the playoffs.”

“We need to work on our hitting, having not hit well the past two games,” said Freeport center fielder Luke LaMagna.

After the game, the Freeport seniors were honored. But, unlike the recent past, the season is not over for the Falcons.

“This year has been a lot of fun, with an attitude that we can win over hoping we could win. It’s a different feeling,” said Ogilby.

“It’s been the best season I have had at Freeport, a good season all-around,” added LaMagna.

Powers, Grayson Beressi, Emple, Will D’Augustino and Foltmer had two hits apiece as the Yachtsmen pounded out 13 hits.

Farmer was 2-for-3 to lead Freeport’s six-hit attack. Zach Greene and Dietrich each singled.

FRYEBURG 2

FREEPORT 1

The host Falcons struck out 15 times, including nine on called-three strikes, in falling to Fryeburg Academy in nine innings on Friday in WMC action at Freeport.

Burke pitched seven innings for the Falcons, striking out 11, walking two and permitting four hits. Weirich threw a scoreless frame, while Purdy was tagged with one run, one hit and two walks.

Fryeburg (8-7) pitcher Ian MacFawn went the distance. He allowed seven hits and walked four. He starred at the plate, hitting a game-tying home run in the fifth inning.

In the Fryeburg ninth, Bill Rascoe’s RBI single scored Andrew Bang with the winning run. LaMagna, Weirich and Nick Cartmell had two singles each for the Falcons.

Falmouth 12,
Freeport 2

At Freeport High School

	Falmouth		— 003	161	1	—	12-	13-0
Freeport		—	020	000	0	—	2-	6-3

Thomas Fortier and Jeremy Lydick, Connor MacDonnell (6); Josh Weirich, Caleb
Farmer (4), Connor Dietrich (5), James
Purdy (6) and Jared Knighton.
Doubles — (Fal) Seamus Powers, Ryan
Conley.
Home runs — (Fal) Grayson Beressi;
(Free) Josh Weirich, Kaleb Farmer.
Repeat hitters — (Fal) Seamus Powers,
Grayson Beressi, Andrew Emple, Will
D’Augustino, Addison Foltmer; (Free)
Kaleb Farmer.
Records — Falmouth 13-2, Freeport 10-
6.
Next for the Falcons — Western Maine
Class B prelims, TBA.