AUBURN — Traip Academy pounced early and often en route to a 11-2 victory over St. Dom’s in a Western Maine Conference baseball contest Friday.
Charlie Driscoll was the offensive catalyst for the Rangers, producing four hits and reaching base five times.
“We just got up early and stayed on the gas and made them think about it a lot,” Traip assistant coach Josh Sharp said. “We stayed aggressive. That’s kind of our game, small ball, and we can hit the ball a little bit better this year.”
Driscoll’s biggest at-bat came in the top of the second, when he sent the ball down the right-field line for a bases-loaded triple in a four-run inning.
“It was decent contact,” Driscoll said. “It was a blooper that just fell. A little bit of luck always helps.”
The Saints (4-3) started to chip away at the deficit in the bottom of the inning when Zack Pelletier walked, stole second, moved to third on a Riley Volpe single and came in when catcher David Jutras threw the ball into left field as he tried to pick Pelletier off at third.
The lead was cut to 4-2 in the third when Mack Pelletier reached on an error, stole second and came around to score when Derek Wolverton reached on an error.
Traip (7-2), ranked third in Class C South, put the game out of the reach, though, in the top of the fourth. No. 9 batter Teddy Driscoll battled back from an 0-2 count to draw a walk from Mack Pelletier. He stole second and third and scored on Charlie Driscoll’s single to right field. Shane MacNeill scored later in the inning on a Hunter Sawtelle single.
“Leadoff walks will hurt you all the time,” St. Dom’s Coach Bob Blackman said.
Charlie Driscoll scored again in the sixth after an infield single, and Jacob Farnham added an RBI single to make it 8-2.
Traip scored three more runs in the seventh, highlighted by Charlie Driscoll’s RBI double.
“They put some balls in the right spot,” said Blackman. “We didn’t put a big rally together. We couldn’t string one or two hits together. That was the difference. We will give them credit, they outplayed us today.”
Traip starter Tyler Apodaca threw five strong innings, striking out two and allowing two hits while walking three.
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