Luke Potter had a plan coming into last week’s Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference high school baseball games.
However, things did not go according to plan. An injury in Tuesday’s win over Mt. Blue required the first-year coach to shuffle his pitching staff slightly, with junior righty Nick Thibeault taking the ball against the Eagles.
On an afternoon where a cold, misty rain fell throughout, Thibeault gave his coach a solid, 97-pitch complete game effort in a 6-1 win.
With the victory, the Dragons improved to 5-2 and visit Lewiston on Wednesday, while Mt. Ararat fell to 0-6 and hosts Lewiston today.
Thibeault struck out three, walked three and allowed five hits. The one run he permitted was unearned, a wild pitch that allowed Griffin Stockford to scamper home in the top of the first.
“He wanted this opportunity, and when you love baseball as much as he does, it is really nice to see him perform and go all seven,” said Potter of his pitcher. “This saves us. It allows everyone else to recover and recuperate. He had some nerves early, but he was patient and went after it. He proved something to himself today.
“It was a hard, physical week for us. We needed a big game from Thibeault, and we got that. It has been a sorted kind of week, with kids taking AP exams. To our team’s credit, we took our at-bats one at-bat at a time.”
“I have a bunch of guys behind me that are really good, so I just needed to throw strikes,” said Thibeault.
Mt. Ararat coach Bob Neron has been looking for a solid effort from his Eagles, and after committing just one error and striking out three times (a season-low), the coach feels his team is ready to see some success.
“If we can play like that the rest of the year, we will get some wins,” said Neron. “That is as good of a game as we have played this year. The pitching was there, the defense was there, we had base runners, we weren’t striking out. I couldn’t be happier. Brunswick is a good team, but I hope this turns around the second half of the season for us.”
Thibeault walked Stockford and Kevin Carter with one out in the first. A groundball moved the runners into scoring position, and Thibeault’s wild pitch gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead.
“I always seem to have one bad inning, but the guys made the plays behind me and were cheering me on,” said Thibeault.
Brunswick answered in its first at-bat. Adam Casey and Elias Henze singled off Mt. Ararat starter Liam Brannigan, and Ryan Maciejewski walked to load the bases with nobody out.
Casey scored one out later on a sacrifice fly by Brady Larson, but Brannigan escaped further damage thanks to a nice catch by Stockford in center field on a hard-hit ball by Will Bessey to end the frame.
Thibeault pitched out of a two-on, one-out jam in the second, and his sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second scored Pearson Cost, who had reached on a single that bounced off the third-base bag.
The Brunswick hurler found his groove, retiring eight straight Mt. Ararat hitters at one point.
However, Brannigan held Brunswick without a run over the next two innings as well. Shortstop Cam Cox turned an inning-ending double play in the third, while second baseman Harper Moutal ranged to his left to get his pitcher out of the fourth unscathed.
“I think the boys were on their toes today, and we played our best defensive game of the year and we had base runners in just about every inning,” said Mt. Ararat third baseman Reilly Kons, who was 2-for-3. “We just didn’t get that clutch hit. I just hope we can take something from this and bring into the rest of our season.”
Potter talked to his team prior to the bottom of the fifth.
“The expectations need to be the same for us every day, and it took us a little while to get into that mentality,” said Potter, whose Dragons were coming off a tough 3-2 loss to Oxford Hills on Thursday.
“It was a tough day today, and tough to get back into it after yesterday’s loss to Oxford,” agreed Bessey, who provided his team some breathing room in the sixth with an RBI triple, scoring Larson (2-for-2, RBI). Bessey scored on a groundball by Satchel Toole and Thibeault came home on a Mt. Ararat error, the only error committed during the soggy day.
Brannigan pitched 5.2 innings on nine hits and two walks. He struck out one. Dakota D’Orio pitched onethird of an inning. Dylan Johnson and Bru Abreu also singled for the Eagles.
Casey and Henze paced Brunswick’s offense with two hits each.
Brunswick 6,
Mt. Ararat 1
Friday, at Brunswick
Mt. Ararat — 100 000 0 — 1-5-1
Brunswick — 110 013 X — 6-9-0
Liam Brannigan, Dakota D’Orio
(6) and Bru Abreu; Nick Thibeault
and Ryan Maciejewski.
Triple — (B) Will Bessey.
Repeat hitters — (MA) Reilly
Kons; (B) Adam Casey, Elias
Henze, Brady Larson.
Records — Brunswick 5-2, Mt.
Ararat 0-6.
Up next for Brunswick —
Wednesday at Lewiston.
Up next for Mt. Ararat — Today
at home versus Lewiston.
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