SOUTH PORTLAND — South Portland ace Drew Abramson didn’t have his best stuff Tuesday, but he had enough to lead the Riots to a 2-1 victory against Biddeford in an SMAA baseball game at the Wainwright Athletic Complex.
“Stuff-wise, he was a little off compared to where he normally is,” South Portland Coach Mike Owens said. “He couldn’t quite locate his fastball on the outside corner but he competed really well and changed speeds really well.”
Abramson, who threw 63 pitches, limited the Tigers to four hits.
“He gets guys out by getting (them on their) front feet and making them pop up or ground out,” Owens said. “We need to play defense behind him and today we played very good defensively.”
The Riots didn’t make an error.
“I wasn’t trying to do too much,” Abramson said. “I was just trying to get them to put the ball in play because I know we have a great defense. People made some plays and that was all I could ask for.
“It was good to bounce back defensively because that’s how we kind of let the game go against Portland.”
The Riots made five errors Saturday in an eight-inning, 5-4 loss to Portland, ending a seven-game win streak.
Tuesday’s win helped the Riots (12-2) tighten their hold on third place in the Class A South Heal point standings.
It was the sixth one-run loss of the season for the Tigers (3-11).
“We’ve played nearly everybody tough all year,” Coach Keith LeBlanc said. “We just haven’t finished it off.”
The Tigers scored in the third inning. Owen Sullivan, Carter Edgerton and Kerry Crepeau singled before Jason Vadnais’ RBI groundout.
“We’ve gotten pretty good pitching all year and the defense has looked great all year,” LeBlanc said. “It’s just getting the timely hits. We’ve haven’t been able to do that.”
The Riots made it 1-1 when Alex Livingston, Riley Hasson, Sam Troiano and Ben Conti led off the bottom of the third with singles.
With one out, South Portland took the lead when Nick Troiano drew a bases-loaded walk.
“Our team can really string some at-bats together and that was all we really needed,” Abramson said. “One person gets going and it gets everybody going.”
Still, the Riots managed just five hits.
“Biddeford did a good job of staying away and changing speeds, and we didn’t make enough adjustments as hitters,” Owens said. “We did enough to win today but certainly going forward we’re going to have to play a lot better.
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