OLD ORCHARD BEACH – In big games, little things matter.

Wednesday afternoon, Westbrook made the little plays and Fayette-Staples couldn’t.

Westbrook received a strong pitching performance from Keenan Lowe, played nearly flawless defense and strung together hits to win 5-1 in the opening round of the American Legion state baseball tournament at The Ballpark.

Lowe regrouped after a tough first couple of innings, when he had trouble finding the plate, to pitch eight innings, allowing seven hits, striking out six and walking one.

“It’s been like that all year,” said Lowe. “It takes me one or two innings for me to get going.”

Westbrook, the Zone 4 champ, will play Windham in a winners’-bracket game at 4 p.m. Thursday. Fayette-Staples, the Zone 5 champ, will play Post 51 in a losers’-bracket game at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.

Westbrook Coach Greg Souza said he talked to Lowe after the first couple of innings, when he worked out of a couple of jams.

“The strike zone was a big zone, letters to the knees,” said Souza. “And if you’ve got a big zone, you’re going to get the pitch. We told him to stop nibbling. Then he just settled into it. And we came around and started to hit.”

This was a typical effort by Westbrook, which generally receives good pitching. The question is whether the batters can produce.

Against Fayette-Staples’ Jeff Gelinas, they did in the fifth and sixth innings, aided by three errors.

Lowe led off the fifth with a walk and went to second on a wild pitch. Kaleb Kent singled him to third, then Collin Joyce knocked him in with a grounder to short.

Kyle Schumacher then reached on an error, with Kent scoring on the play. After a groundout, Zach Bean hit a slow roller to third that wasn’t handled for a hit, with Schumacher scoring the third run.

In the sixth, a walk and error allowed the first two Westbrook runners on, Kent then laid down a perfect squeeze bunt.

The bunt rolled past Gelinas, allowing Derek Bouchard, who had walked, to score. The final run came in on an error.

“I was getting a little nervous,” said Lowe. “We know Gelinas is a great pitcher but once we got those runs I felt better.”

And that’s what Fayette-Staples couldn’t do.

Fayette-Staples, which will advance to the regional tournament regardless of the outcome of the state tournament (as the regional host), stranded six runners in the first four innings.

Staff Writer Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or at:

mlowe@pressherald.com

Twitter: MikeLowePPH

 

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