BATH

Sometimes, all it takes is one inning.

The Morse High School baseball team found that out the hard way on Friday when Maranacook came to town for a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference matchup.

With a one- run lead heading into the sixth inning, the Shipbuilders and fresh arm Tait Nygaard looked poised to close things out. But, a simple groundball to third base turned into an error and it all snowballed from there. Twelve batters and eight runs later, and the 10- 3 Black Bears win was all but decided.

“ It’s always tough,” Morse starting pitcher Jacob Cressey said. “ I thought I was throwing pretty well, just keeping them close, but that one inning hurt.”

Cressey pitched five strong innings for Morse ( 2- 4), striking out a pair and walking just one. After Maranacook’s (4-3) Jason Brooks and Connor Ireland drove in a pair of runs in the first innings, the southpaw settled down quickly and gave up just three hits in the next four frames.

”I was kind of rushed in the first,” Cressey said. “I couldn’t seem to focus more on the game. All my stuff was working, it was working really well today.”

But, with four games slated for this upcoming week, Morse coach Garrett Olson was forced to pull Cressey out of the game at 71 pitches. Nygaard’s velocity was a sharp change of pace from Cressey’s finesse pitching, but Maranacook wasn’t fooled.

After the error at third base to begin the fifth inning, Ireland stepped up for the Black Bears and drove an RBI double down the left-field line. Two batters later, Matt Gyorgy came to the plate and earned a walk before Nygaard picked up a second out on a flyball. Kent Mohler doubled and Gyorgy scored on another throwing error on the relay from left field.

“ Tait ( Nygaard) didn’t pitch bad,” Olson said. “Made a few errors and he started trying to get a little too fine with it and they hit a couple balls hard, but that’s going to happen.”

After four straight balls thrown to Brooks in his second at- bat of the inning, Nygaard was pulled after 25 pitches. With the score at 7-3, new pitcher Chase Smith forced a long, deep pop-up from Ireland with the bases loaded. Just when the Shipbuilders thought the nightmare inning was over, the ball hit the ground in right field and three more runs crossed home plate.

“ We were giving them extra outs,” Olson said. “It’s kind of plagued us for a little bit – you give a team six, seven outs in an inning and they’re going to score some runs.

“ Couple costly errors that gave them a lot of runs that hurts. We can come back from two, three runs, not a big deal. It’s a whole lot different when you go and give up eight in an inning.”

Smith, who finished the game out for Morse with a 1-2-3 showing in the top of the seventh, got out of the eight- run frame quickly after that, but the damage was done.

Maranacook starter Avery Beckwith tossed five innings ( three runs, one strikeout, three walks) before handing the ball over to his brother Jared in the sixth. Morse leadoff hitter Keegan McDonough got to Beckwith early, singling and later scoring on a Cressey RBI single in the bottom of the first. McDonough also drove in Tucker Banger in the bottom of the fifth and Tyler Young scored on a wild pitch, but the 3-2 lead for the hosts was short-lived.

Jared Beckwith closed the game out for Maranacook with 30 pitches over two innings. Parker Onorato, Young and Banger were the only three Shipbuilders to reach base more than once.

Morse’s busy week begins today with a home game against Medomak Valley at 4 p.m., and Olson said his group needs to forget about Friday quickly – the loss was more mental than anything else.

“Overcoming adversity,” Olson said. “Mental toughness.

They’re going to make mistakes, but learn how to come back from them.”`

“We played well up to that point, but we’ve got to be focused all the way through,” Cressey said of the big sixth inning and ultimate defeat. “All 21 outs and just make sure you’re ready all the time.”

Maranacook 10,
Morse 3

Maranacook — 200 008 0 – 10-9-2
Morse — 100 020 0 – 3-5-4
Avery Beckwith, Jared Beckwith (6)
and Mark Buzzell; Jacob Cressey, Tait
Nygaard (6), Chase Smith (6) and
Isaiah Cogswell.
Doubles — (Mar) Kent Mohler 2,
Jason Brooks, Max McQuillen, Mark
Buzzell, Connor Ireland; (Mo) Tyler
Young.
Repeat Hitters — (Mar) Max
McQuillen, Jason Brooks, Kent
Mohler, Vinnie Birtwell; (Mo) Tyler
Young.
Records — Maranacook 4-3, Morse
2-4.
Up next for the Shipbuilders —
Today at home against Medomak Valley, 4 p.m.