Cheverus High left fielder Nathaniel Lapoint did a quick risk calculation as he raced for the line drive hit by Bonny Eagle’s Jacob Humphrey in the sixth inning.

“The score’s 5-3 with guys on second and third. If it drops, then it’s 5-4 with one out and runners at first and third and chaos is going to happen on the bases and they’ll probably score the tying run,” Lapoint said. “I figured it was a situation where I had to go all out for it.”

Lapoint dove and stretched his 6-foot-4 frame to make the catch, got up and easily threw to second to complete the inning-ending double play that keyed Cheverus’ 5-3 Class A win Thursday.

“You live for those plays. You get sometimes one, two balls a season like that so you have to go for it,” Lapoint said.

Cheverus improved to 7-3 with a game scheduled for Friday at Hadlock against rival Portland. Bonny Eagle (7-4)  lost its third straight.

Cheverus Coach Mac McKew was glad to see Lapoint taking the risk.

“We have to make plays like that to win,” McKew said. “We’re not the Bronx Bombers or anything like that offensively. We’ve got to pitch well and make the big plays when you need them.”

Cheverus maximized two extra outs in the second inning to score all its runs against Scots starter Jackson Bean (6 innings, 7 hits allowed).

The Stags scored first on a well-executed suicide squeeze bunt by Jack Mullen that allowed Chris Cimino (2 for 3), who was running on the pitch, to score easily from third.

The next two batters reached on miscues. Bean struck out Luke Knowles but the curve in the dirt was not handled by catcher Ethan Scott for a wild pitch. Instead of a third out, Knowles reached and a second run scored on the play. An error on a routine grounder followed. Cheverus capitalized with an RBI single by Lapoint and a two-run single from Hayden O’Donnell.

Over the next four innings, Bean allowed no runs on two hits.

“He was great all day and we should have got out of (the second inning) earlier but he battled and throws strikes,” said Bonny Eagle Coach Rick Hession. “He keeps us in every game he pitches.”

Bonny Eagle put 11 runners on in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings but scored only once in each inning. In the fourth, Bean drove in a run with a single but the Scots left the bases loaded when reliever Nick Giancotti got a one-pitch pop-up after taking over for sophomore starter Sam Clark (3 2/3 innings, one hit, four walks).

The Scots strung together four straight singles against Giancotti in the fifth, with Khyler Hart’s scoring Humphrey. Bean’s sharp grounder with the bases loaded was turned into a 4-6-3 double play with first baseman Andrew DeGeorge picking a short-hop throw.

In the sixth, Bonny Eagle’s Cam Phinney led off with his third walk of the game and later scored on a wild pitch before Lapoint’s diving catch.

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