SACO — The Thornton Academy baseball team pushed past the visiting Sanford Spartans 9-4 Thursday afternoon.

The Trojans had consistent bats along with solid pitching on the day. TA coach Ray Petit was pleased with his team’s clutch hitting.

“It was good, we had some timely hitting when we had men on base … (Sanford’s pitchers) did a good job of keeping us off balance, but when we had the opportunities they did a good job,” said Petit.

Petit was also happy with his team’s pitching, as four different arms took the hill for the Trojans.

“I thought the pitchers did a good job overall. We got behind in the count a little bit more than I would have liked to see and we will have to be much more efficient against Scarborough, but I was happy overall. They kept the pitches down and (Sanford) hit the ball hard,” said Petit.

Sanford coach Mark Boissonneault was also impressed with TA’s work on the mound.

“The last few games we have hit the ball. Today, there were obviously different speeds and skills but our guys swung the bat. Unfortunately for us (TA’s) pitchers did a good job,” said Boissoneault.

Sanford wasted little time getting on the board, gaining a 1-0 lead in the first off a passed ball.

TA’s bats would take off in the third as the Trojans scored five runs. Ben Lambert, Brandon Hall and Adam Gibbons would each produce RBI singles, while a Chase Wescott grounder resulted in a throwing error to home, scoring in two more.

Sanford responded in the fourth, scoring two runs off an RBI single from Keith Kerrigan and a sacrifice fly from Devin Gouin, bringing the score to 5-3.

TA would then go on to score three more runs in the bottom half of the fourth off an RBI single from Wescott, an RBI double from Hall and another off a throwing error.

The Spartans continued to fight, scoring another run in the fifth thanks to a James Roche RBI. TA once again responded in the sixth, when a Wescott grounder resulted in another throwing error and a run, bringing the score to 9-4.

Boissoneault was disappointed in his team’s defensive struggles.

“You aren’t going to win many games if you don’t field the ball and I think that is where we didn’t do our jobs today … we didn’t do our jobs on the field and that’s the bottom line for us,” said Boissoneault.

Another issue the Spartans had was slowing down the momentum of the TA offense, an issue that Boissoneault believed was self-inflicted.

“We gave them that momentum with the passed balls and missed plays at the plate. Baseball is the ultimate team game and once the pitcher releases the ball it’s out of his control and it’s up to the defense to do its job,” said Boissoneault.

On the other hand, Petit was glad to see his team get out of multiple jams throughout the seven innings.

“They did a pretty good job of getting out of jams. That’s the key to having a successful team – not giving them one or two big innings. If you can limit the damage … they do a pretty good job of that,” said Petit.

With the playoffs approaching, the biggest adjustment Petit wants to see for his team is at the plate.

“We were having great focus and having great at bats early on, but our focus needs to get better. I’d like to see improvement with our bats,” said Petit.

Zach Ham got the start for TA, pitching an inning and giving up one run and no hits while earning a strikeout. Andrew Coleman then took over, pitching 3 2/3 innings and giving up three runs on five hits and striking out three.

Evan Balzano pitched the next 1 1/3 for TA, allowing just one hit and no runs. Lambert closed out the game in the seventh allowing no runs on one hit and getting a strikeout.

Shawn Merrifield took the mound for Sanford, pitching 2 2/3 innings and allowing five runs on four hits while striking out two. Nate Martineau pitched the final 3 1/3, giving up four runs on five hits and striking out two.

— Sports Staff Writer Alex Sponseller can be reached at [email protected] or at 282-1535 ext. 323. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.