YORK — Traip Academy’s Hunter Sawtelle held York’s potent lineup to two hits and no runs through six innings.

Then it got dicey. Three hits, including an RBI single from Shane Pidgeon, put the tying runs on second and third and brought Tim MacDonald to the plate.

MacDonald was coming off a two-homer game Monday in a win against Gray-New Gloucester, but Sawtelle struck him out on three pitches to finish a 3-1 win.

“Baseball’s a game where you can’t get down on yourself and you have to kind of forget about plays,” Sawtelle said. “You just push through it because you have to get the next batter out, and that’s what I did. I stayed focused.”

Traip, ranked third in the Class C South Heal point standings entering the game, is 6-2. Class B York is 3-5.

Sawtelle allowed five hits, walked two, hit two and struck out five. His compact delivery created enough deception to get York swinging late on his fastball, setting up the curve and an occasional knuckleball.

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“He was throwing strikes with multiple pitches and certainly did a nice job keeping (York) off balance,” said Traip Coach Seth Cole.

It was Traip’s first win against York in Cole’s five seasons. Cole was also ejected for the first time in his career.

It came after MacDonald was hit by a pitch in the fifth while trying to avoid an inside, thigh-high offering. Cole quietly questioned whether MacDonald had leaned into the pitch. In the first inning, MacDonald was called out because the umpire ruled MacDonald purposely stuck his elbow into the path of a curveball.

Traip, which reached the regional semifinals in 2017, played errorless ball and beat a quality opponent.

“I think (York) will be one of the most difficult teams we face all spring. Now they know they can beat a team like this,” Cole said. “I’d like to think that confidence will carry over.”

Traip’s Ryan Perkins led off the game with a single and scored on Sawtelle’s double.

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Traip added an unearned run with two outs in the second inning.

York pitcher J. Henry Bock, who allowed six hits and struck out seven, settled in from there, getting stronger as the game went on.

Traip scored another unearned run in the seventh. Perkins (2 for 4, two runs) reached second when his grounder was thrown away, then advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Charlie Driscoll’s sacrifice fly into the fog-laden sky in right-center.

“A lot of guys stepped up today. I just happened to be in an easy position at the end of the game (and) got the job done,” Driscoll said.

York had quality scoring chances in the fifth and sixth end on hard-hit flyouts.

“The big hits just didn’t come today,” said interim coach Nick Hanlon. “I think the boys understand that they hit some balls hard and they just didn’t drop, and that’s going to happen sometimes. The credit goes to Hunter Sawtelle today. He just kept us off balance.”

Steve Craig can be reached at 791-6413 or:

scraig@pressherald.com

Twitter: SteveCCraig


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