Dylan Koza scored Windham’s lone run – Mike Gilman swung the bat that brought him home – in a lopsided loss to Cheverus on Friday, April 22. The visiting Stags, a more seasoned outfit by far, brought better energy to the field and walked away with a well-earned 9-1 W.

“Cheverus is a very good team … much more experienced than we are at this point,” said Eages head coach Brody Artes. “Coach McKew does a great job with them; he makes sure they’re prepared for everything. They made the plays, they hit the ball well and did what they needed to do to get the win – and we didn’t.”

Whereas Windham features just three seniors, Cheverus boasts an intimidating 11. Throw juniors in the mix, and the Eagles’ tally of upperclassmen grows to 10; the Stags’, meanwhile, swells to 17.

The bout was Windham’s third on the season. They kicked off their schedule right, picking up a 4-2 win at Sanford on Monday, April 18, and a 7-6 home win over Noble two days later. Cheverus, however, caught them asleep at the proverbial wheel – that is, they didn’t particularly show up to play.

“No, not at all,” said Artes. “It’s kind of a side effect of having a young team. It’s growing pains for us. But it’s too short a season to even think about those. You have to react and make adjustments real quick.”

Cheverus jumped on the lead early, posting two in the first and three more in the second. The team had Gilman’s number – Gilman started on the mound for Windham – but that doesn’t mean he was having a bad day. In fact, Artes praised his work.

“I thought Mike pitched very well today,” Artes said. “He kept the ball down.”

So Gilman controlled the ball ably; the Stags just tracked him well. And in the field, his teammates couldn’t keep atop the hits coming their way. 

“We got a lot of ground balls that we didn’t make plays on – gave ’em six unearned runs, early on,” said Artes. “It was tough for us to battle back from that.”

Windham didn’t get on the board until the bottom if the third, when Koza, the team’s No. 7 hitter, stepped to the plate and clubbed a single toward third. He grabbed second on Evan Mullett’s sac play, third on Evan Coughlin’s shot toward short and home when Gilman drove into right. 5-1.

But that’s when the offensive well dried up for the Eagles. They notched a couple more hits – Zack Skillings blasted one to left in the sixth and Koza connected again, this time to center, in the seventh – but overall, the team couldn’t find a groove.

Artes observed as much.

“We didn’t compete today at the plate; bat was on the shoulders quite a bit,” he said. “We let a lot of fast balls for strikes go in there without taking a hack at it.”

Cheverus added another run in the fourth and three more in the sixth to round out their triumph.

Windham traveled to Deering on Wednesday the 27th (a makeup contest, rescheduled because of the previous day’s snow), after the Lakes Region Weekly’s print deadline. They hosted Massabesic on the 28th and travel to Scarborough on the 30th. 

“We’re hoping that we grow quick,” said Artes. “Hopefully we can get Deering. I hope we show up there with a little bit more intensity – a little bit more anxious at the plate, as far as being competitive, swinging the bat early in counts, put the ball in play, make some things happen.”

Artes didn’t merely blame his boys’ lack of focus for their slight output; he also applauded Cheverus pitcher Alex Jacobs.

“I thought their pitcher did a great job today; kept the ball right around the plate,” he said. “Knowing that, [we should’ve] made adjustments earlier on and said, ‘You know what? He’s around the plate, so we’ve got to be aggressive, even on balls on the outside. You might nip it a little bit.’”

Mike Gilman pitched a solid game, despite the team’s loss.

Mitch Eskilson takes a turn at the plate for the Eagles on Friday.

Timmy Greenlaw grabs a throw at first – but just late.

Dylan Koza arrives at home for the Eagles’ lone run.

Cam McCartney tries for a ball at second, but it’s about to escape his reach.