STANDISH — The losing had to stop on a blustery Tuesday afternoon for either Kennebunk or Bonny Eagle, both of whom had stormed out of the gate this spring.

After a wild seventh inning, the team that took better care of the baseball finally returned to its winning ways.

Kennebunk halted a six-game skid with an 8-4 Class A South victory over Bonny Eagle, which fell for the fifth straight time.

“We were pretty tired of losing,” said senior center fielder Derek Smith, who had two of Kennebunk’s seven hits and ran down a ball in the gap to help snuff a Scots rally in the sixth. “We had to fight this one out.”

The Rams (7-7) had won 6 of 7 before a two-week fruitless stretch. Tuesday’s chilly winds and occasional sprinkles signaled more of the same, particularly when Bonny Eagle senior Bobby Faucher launched a solo blast in the first inning.

“First home run I’ve ever let up in my life,” said Kennebunk junior ace Ronin Tachibana. “I was kind of shocked. I knew I had to throw more off-speed (pitches) because they were definitely hitting my fastball.”

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Tachibana (3-0) kept the Scots off balance until tiring in the seventh. He twice escaped jams without allowing a run. A walk, a Jackson Bean single and a hit batter filled the bases with none out in the fourth, but a force at the plate, a strikeout and a comebacker preserved Kennebunk’s 3-1 lead.

“That was huge for our momentum,” Smith said. “If they had started scoring there, then we probably would have gone back to our old ways.”

It was 4-1 in the sixth when Khyler Hart (three hits) and Bean reached base. Again, the Scots came up empty when Smith tracked down Ethan Scott’s drive to left-center and Kennebunk shortstop Nick Teguis and second baseman Dominic DeFeo turned a double play.

The Rams played without a mistake in the field, in contrast to four errors by Bonny Eagle (7-6), three of them on throws. Scots lefty Cam Phinney  carried a no-hitter into the fourth when a one-out blooper by Ryan Connors over a drawn-in infield gave Kennebunk a 2-1 lead. Connors came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Teguis.

Freshman catcher David York drove in three runs on an infield out, a sacrifice fly and a bases-loaded walk. The latter came in a four-run seventh that gave Kennebunk an 8-1 lead.

The Scots had won 7 of 8 before their current slide. They rallied with four hits in the seventh, including a double by Jacob Humphrey and a two-run single by Hart that spelled the end for Tachibana. Sophomore Oliver Leonard earned the save by inducing two infield pops.

“We have to find a way to do the little things that the other guys are doing,” Bonny Eagle Coach Rick Hession said. “I think our energy was good. The guys were into the game the entire time.”


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