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Preliminary playoffs: Deering, Gorham, Biddeford battle to wins
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Baseball prelim: Deering dominates Cheverus, 12-2
The Rams win their first baseball playoff game since 2010 by hammering 17 hits in routing the Stags.June 9: Kevin Goldberg of Deering dives back to first on a pickoff attempt as Jared Brooks of Cheverus waits for the throw in Tuesday’s Western Class A baseball prelim. Deering won, 12-2.Sam Luebbert of Deering has been waiting four seasons to pitch in a playoff game. On Tuesday, he got his chance.
Luebbert, a senior right-hander, pitched a five-hitter with seven strikeouts and his teammates pounded out 17 hits as No. 9 Deering beat No. 8 Cheverus 12-2 in a Western Maine Class A baseball preliminary-round game at Cheverus’ Kevin McDonald Memorial Field.
Deering (11-6) will play top-ranked Portland (12-4) in the quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Thursday at Hadlock Field.
Deering was last in a playoff game in 2011 and last won one in 2010.
“I was nervous, but excited,” said Luebbert of pitching in his first playoff game. “This is a dream come true. It means everything.”
Luebbert mixed his pitches well, but had a quick answer when asked what was working for him.
“My curve,” he said.
Luebbert’s sweeping curve had the Stags baffled for the most part. It was dropping over the plate for called strikes time and time again.
“My fastball was working too. I knew I had to mix things up because Cheverus is a good hitting club,” said Luebbert. “I was able to get ahead of the hitters and our defense was outstanding.”
Deering showed its hitting ability as well.
“We finished second in the SMAA in hitting,” said Deering Coach Josh Stowell, who was a Cheverus assistant coach before returning to his alma mater this year.
Stowell said Luebbert has the right temperament to pitch in big games.
“He doesn’t let things bother him. He pitched himself out of a few jams,” said Stowell.
Deering’s defense turned three double plays, including one that ended the game.
“The boys really came to play,” said Stowell. “The seniors have provided great leadership.”
Entering the game, the teams were headed in different directions.
Cheverus (9-8) had dropped its last four regular-season games and Deering tuned up for the playoffs by beating Windham, the defending regional champion, 4-1 in its regular-season finale.
Deering got off to a quick start as its first two batters, Kevin Goldberg and Nick Bevilacqua, reached on infield hits. After Cheverus pitcher Alex Jacobs got a strikeout, Pat Viola drove in the first run with a single to right. The second run came across on a fielder’s choice.
Viola also had a two-run single in the sixth that made it 9-2. He finished 4 for 5 with four RBI.
Bevilacqua had a two-run single in the fourth and finished with three hits.
Dom Bernard had a two-run single in the seventh. Bernard and Spencer Todd had doubles for the game’s only extra-base hits.
Deering scored four runs in the fourth with the first two runs coming on pitches hitting batters.
The Stags also had chances.
They got their first two runners on in the first, but didn’t score. Cheverus loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth. The Rams then turned a double play with a run scoring. After a Cheverus batter reached because of catcher’s interference, Luebbert struck out the next batter to end the inning.
Deering also ended the fifth inning with a 4-6-3 double play after a run had scored.
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Baseball prelim: Gorham continues surprising run
The Rams, who scrambled to earn the No. 12 playoff seed, knock off No. 5 Thornton Academy.SACO — The Gorham baseball team has been staring at elimination for two weeks. So why blink now, when facing a preliminary-round playoff game at Thornton Academy?
The Rams scored six times in the top of the first inning Tuesday and pushed the fifth-seeded Trojans out of the postseason with a dominating 13-2 victory.
“We thought it was going to be a good test and we were ready,” Gorham senior Andrew Schmidt said. “Our approach was just put it in play. We knew their defense wasn’t that strong and it showed. We put balls in play, they couldn’t handle the pressure and just dropped a couple of them.”
The Rams (9-8) got a two-run single from Gerek Brown and a two-run double by Logan Drouin, back in the lineup for the first time in a half-dozen games after injuring his thumb, to fuel that opening outburst. It was the worst inning of the year for Thornton Academy ace Benjamin Lambert, who compounded things by bobbling a grounder back to the mound for one of the two Trojan errors in the inning.
“He had trouble spotting the ball. We were trying to go down and away, and he kept drifting back in and they jumped on it,” Trojans Coach Ray Petit said. “They did a great job hitting.”
Gorham had to win its final three games of the regular season just to capture the 12th and final seed in the Western Class A playoffs. The Rams were able to survive Westbrook, Cheverus and South Portland to carry some momentum into the game against Thornton (11-6).
The Trojans, confronted with a startling early deficit, started to chip away, scoring a run in the bottom of the first and another in the second off Gorham starter Sam Kilborn. Lambert, meanwhile, returned to his usual form, fanning four and pitching four shutout innings after the first.
Gorham maintained control by surviving the bottom of the third, when Thornton Academy loaded the bases with one out on a pair of walks and a hit batter. Kilborn responded with his first strikeout and a groundout to end that threat, then finished off the victory by retiring 12 of the last 14 batters he faced.
After his clutch third inning, Kilborn came off the mound and delivered some good news to Coach Chuck Nadeau.
“He actually said, ‘Coach, I’ve found what was wrong (with his delivery) and I’ve fixed it.’ I said, ‘Good for you, so we don’t have to worry anymore,’ ” Nadeau said.
Said Petit of that sequence: “I felt comfortable when we got the one back, got the two back. They were feeling good about themselves and then I kind of felt the wind go out of their sails when we didn’t get a bunch of runs there.”
Schmidt broke the game open with a two-run double as part of a three-run sixth for Gorham. The Rams tacked on four runs in the seventh.
Next up is a quarterfinal Thursday at No. 4 seed Falmouth (10-6).
“When we were 2-5, we told the kids, ‘We believe we’ve got the right guys, we believe we’ve got the right approach and you guys are going to have to trust your efforts, trust your talents, trust your teammates and trust us as coaches,’ ” Nadeau said. “And the kids did that all year. We trusted in what we’re doing. We started to get some breaks. Baseball’s funny. We’re on a good roll right now but it can change in a hurry.”
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Baseball roundup: Biddeford upsets Kennebunk
Hall-Dale and St. Dominic also come away with wins in their divisions.KENNEBUNK — Casey Twomey pitched a two-hitter, striking out four and walking two as 11th-seeded Biddeford upset sixth-ranked Kennebunk 4-1 in a Western Class A baseball prelim Tuesday.
Biddeford (7-10) will be at third-seeded South Portland (12-4) in a quarterfinal at 4 p.m. Thursday.
Nicholas Conley had a pair of singles and Kerry Crepeau added a double for Biddeford.
Kip Richard hit a solo home run in the first inning for Kennebunk (11-6).
Ben Lary of the Rams allowed one earned run on six hits, walking two and striking out seven.
HALL-DALE 5, TRAIP ACADEMY 4: Brian Allen allowed two hits in five innings as seventh-seeded Hall-Dale (12-5)edged the 10th-ranked Rangers (9-8) in a Western C prelim at Farmingdale.
Allen left the mound with a 5-1 lead after the third inning, then returned for the sixth with a 5-4 lead and shut down the Rangers with five strikeouts and four walks.
Bobby Cumler and Quinn Stebbins had two hits apiece for the Bulldogs, who will be at second-ranked Winthrop in the quarterfinals Thursday.
ST. DOMINIC 3, MADISON 1: The eighth-seeded Saints (12-5) scored two unearned runs off three errors to top the ninth-ranked Bulldogs (8-9) in a Western C prelim at Auburn.
St. Dom’s opened the scoring in the third inning when Matt Keaney walked, then scored on a double by Michael Bryant, who later came home on a squeeze.
Madison answered in the fourth when Cody Soucier scored on a fielder’s choice.
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