RICHMOND’S BRENDAN EMMONS fires in a pitch during Saturday’s Western Maine Class D matchup against North Yarmouth Academy. Emmons, who had seven strikeouts over three innings, and his team topped NYA, 14-4.
Five innings, 261 combined pitches and two-and-a-half hours later, the Richmond High School baseball team sealed the deal with a 10-run rule victory over North Yarmouth Academy, 14-4 during Western Maine Class D play on Saturday.
“We did it, but I think we could’ve gotten Brendan (Emmons) out of more jams by fielding the ball a little bit better,” Bobcats head coach Ryan Gardner said after the game in reference to his starting pitcher. “We cleaned it up a little bit in the last few innings, but you know what, it’s still spring baseball. We haven’t been outside enough, we’re still going to have growing pains, still going to make those simple mistakes.”
Emmons found difficulty in the start of the game, throwing 33 pitches in the first inning alone, allowing only one hit, but walking two in the process. Haven Cutko lined a single to center to start things off for the Panthers (0-2), and then reached third on a passed ball and a wild pitch. After Brad Rockey walked, Andrew Keith reached on a throwing error that allowed Cutko to score with ease.
“I felt pretty good, just cold,” Emmons said. “It’s the first time I pitched on a mound this year. We’ve only had one or two practices outside, so it’s hard to get used to the atmosphere outside.”
The Bobcats (3-0) tied it up in the bottom half of the first when Emmons sent one up the middle, stole second and trotted home on a throwing error during Mike Stewart’s at bat.
Despite allowing two walks in the top of the second, Emmons settled down, striking out two more batters to bring his total on the day to four.
Taking command
In the latter half of the inning, Richmond went off, forcing NYA pitcher Connor Dillon to toss 51 pitches before being relieved by Keith. Tristan Shea, Nate Kendrick and Curtis Anderson drew walks to load the bases and the damage began to unfold. Matt Rines pushed ahead the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly to right, followed by a pair of singles and a pair of walks, as well as two passed balls, leading to eight Bobcat runs.
“I think we hit the ball pretty well,” Gardner said. “We put the ball in play and made them play it. We scored 14 runs which is pretty good and you should be winning games when you score 14 runs. We just have to clean up the pitching, but that will come when the weather gets better. They gutted it out, they got it done, they got some timely hitting. It was a team effort.”
NYA scraped across three more runs due to a couple of fielding miscues and pitching mishaps. Joey Hogan reached on a throwing error to lead off the third and advanced to second on a single by Johnny Busolin. A wild pitch moved both runners up a base, but after two strikeouts by Emmons, another fielding error allowed both runners to score to cut the deficit down to six.
Rockey notched the Panthers fourth run after drawing a walk, stealing second and making the rest of the trip around thanks to a pair of pitches that snuck to the backstop.
Four more runs in the fourth from the Bobcats put the game out of reach, but the final two runs shortened the game after it put the Mercy Rule into effect. Anderson began the inning reaching first base when he was hit by a pitch and then replaced by Casey Gorman on the base paths. A fielding error during Brady Johnson’s atbat put runners on first and second with nobody out.
Rines beat out an infield single to second to load the bases, and Emmons walked on five pitches, forcing the 13th run across the plate. Tyler Soucy, who relieved Emmons of his pitching duties in the fourth inning, sealed the game when he roped a single up the middle, pushing across Johnson for the final run.
“We’re sitting on our pitches,” Emmons, who completed three innings of work on the mound with seven strikeouts, said about what his team did well. “We’re watching and waiting for our pitch and if it’s not there then we’re getting on base through walks. That’s how we’re generating our runs. We’re doing well.”
The Bobcats are now 3-0 on the season and will face Rangeley on Tuesday. Though the early success is a positive note, Emmons said his team just needs to take it in stride.
“It’s good to start out hot, but you have to make sure you don’t burn out in the end,” he said.
Richmond 14, NYA 4
At Richmond High School
NYA — 102 10 — 4-2-3
Richmond — 180 32 — 14-5-2
Connor Dillon, Andrew Keith (2) and John
Chapman; Brendan Emmons, Tyler Soucy (4)
and Tristan Shea.
Double — (R) Mike Stewart.
Repeat hitters — (R) Brendan Emmons, Tyler
Soucy.
Records — Richmond 3-0; NYA 0-2.
Up next for the Bobcats — Tuesday at home
against Rangeley, 4 p.m.
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