KENNEBUNK — Sometimes in baseball, there’s no better tool to have than speed.

As Kennebunk’s leadoff hitter, Robby Burns has that in spades. And it won the Rams a pivotal game on Wednesday afternoon.

Leading off the bottom of the eighth inning, Burns reached base on a bunt hit, stole second on the next pitch and then came home when Ben Wilson’s bunt up the third base line was thrown into left field, scoring the winning run as Kennebunk beat Wells 2-1 in a wild Western Maine Conference game.

It was a run created out of nothing, and secured the third win in a row for the suddenly streaking Rams (3-3).

“If you’re fast, you’ve got to use it,” said Burns, who also pitched the last two innings in relief for the Rams to pick up the win. “That’s what I tried to do, and the first thing that came to my mind was run.”

Burns had been the goat three innings before, when his error on the base paths ran the Rams out of an inning. But he showed no hesitation in the eighth when Wells (4-2) pitcher Bennie McMinis fielded the bunt and, seeing he had no chance to throw out Wilson at first, wheeled and threw to third to try to nab Burns.

Burns beat the throw and the ball nicked off of third baseman Andrew Skeats’ glove and kicked about 20 feet away, allowing Burns more than enough time to get up and charge home.

“A lot of guys wouldn’t have scored on that,” Kennebunk coach Brian Dill said. “Sometimes we need to rein (Burns) in and get a collar on him, but it’s nice to have the speed he has. Getting him on was key. He’s the most dangerous kid we have as far base running.”

The play was the last of a number of wacky sequences on the base paths. With the game tied 1-1, Wells had great chances to take a lead in both the seventh and eighth innings, but twice had runners picked off by the arm of Kennebunk catcher Kip Richard.

The first came in the seventh when Burns plunked McMinis to load the bases. Burns then fell behind to Dan Quint but fought back to strike him out, and on strike three, Richard fired down to third baseman Ben Lary to pick off Matt Marrero and get the Rams out of the jam.

“I saw him taking a pretty big lead, and I heard shortstop Nick Emmons screaming, ”˜Throw to third ”“ to third!’ I looked over and just decided to let it go,” Richard said. “Me and Nick and Ben have our own little bit of chemistry. If we see someone getting too far off, I’ll throw it down.”

That chemistry paid off again in the eighth, when a pair of walks gave Wells runners on first and second with one out. But Burns struck out Nick Ramsey, and Richard again got the last out of the inning when he came out of his crouch and sent a seed to Emmons to pick off Charlie Bell at second.

“We have a young group, and we’re still learning with mostly first-year varsity players. Unfortunately, that probably cost us a ball game today,” Wells coach Todd Day said. “They have an excellent catcher, and he was aware and made some throws. It’s a learning experience.”

Kennebunk had taken a 1-0 lead in the second on another odd occurrence. After the Rams loaded the bases on singles by Caleb Burpee and Lary and a Wells error, McMinis struck out Eric Aiken but then let in a run when he was called for a balk.

Day, who admitted he didn’t see the play, got an explanation from the umpire who called it: “They said that he moved his shoulder checking the guy at first,” Day said. “I don’t understand why he’s even doing that with the bases loaded or how the call happened, but the umpire said he distinctly moved his shoulder.”

McMinis got out of the inning without any further damage, and then played a role in getting the run back in the fifth, when his single off Kennebunk starter Lary gave the Warriors runners on first and second with one out.

Quint followed with a dribbler down the third base line in the same vicinity that Wilson’s bunt would later find; and, as if an omen for things to come, a throwing error by a pitcher would allow a run to score as Lary’s throw bounced past Wilson at first, allowing Cody Cousins to come around and tie the game 1-1.

Wells then had a chance to take the lead, but Connor Pease’s liner was just picked off the grass by Emmons, playing in with a runner on third. It had been Emmons’ error that had allowed Cousins to reach, but after making the shoestring catch he threw to third to double up the stranded McMinis and end the inning.

“That’s a tough one in that situation, and the runners were hung out to dry,” Day said. “A lot of little things didn’t go our way today. But you’ve also got to make those things happen against good teams.”

It was Kennebunk’s turn to have a miscue on the bases in the bottom half of the fifth. Burns beat out a grounder to shortstop to reach with one out, and the Rams looked to be set up for a big inning when Wilson’s grounder took a big bounce off the glove of shortstop Quint.

Burns, seeing no Wells player near third, decided to keep running. Quint retrieved the ball and threw to a covering McMinis, who tagged Burns and then threw to second, where Wilson was tagged out also trying to advance.

But Burns more than made up for it with both his arm and legs later on, leading Kennebunk to its third win in six days. For a team that entered the season with high expectations only to drop its opening three games, getting back to .500 was a major step with the meat of the schedule still to come.

“That was a big eye-opener to lose the first couple of games,” Richard said. “Then, we started to practice hard and really get it. Now, we’re ready to go for the rest of the season.”

— Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or [email protected].