SOUTH PORTLAND — The last time South Portland starter Noah Lewis pitched against Biddeford, the right-hander tossed a two-hit shutout in a 3-0 Red Riots win back on May 29.

The Biddeford bats must have felt a sense of deja vu Wednesday at Wainwright Field in South Portland.

Lewis threw a three-hit shutout, striking out nine batters, and the top-seeded Red Riots held on to beat the eighth-seeded Tigers, 3-0,  in a Class A South quarterfinal matchup.

“Noah just comes at you,” said South Portland coach Mike Owens. “He throws strike, after strike, after strike … I was really impressed with his effort.”

South Portland (16-1) got to Biddeford starter Brady Wildes in the second. After Caden Horton reached on an error, Gus Lappin followed with an infield single, which advanced Horton to third.  

Gerik Bialrouki then hit a squibber down the third base line to score Horton to make it 1-0. Lappin advanced to third on the play.

Then, with runners on first and third with two outs and Anthony Perron at the plate, Bialorucki got caught in a rundown between first and second which allowed Lappin to score before Bialorucki was tagged for the final out of the inning.

“It was just one of those games,” said Biddeford coach Keith LeBlanc. “(South Portland’s) a good team.”

The Red Riots extended their lead to 3-0 in the third. Noah Lewis doubled the center, then was drove in on a bloop single to right field by Tyler Small.

Biddeford (8-9) did threaten to make things interesting in the sixth.

After Lewis retired Kurtis Edgerton and Hunter Demeule on groundouts, the Tigers started a two-out rally on back-to-back singles from Matt Rouselle and Ashton Crowell. Nick Lyons then came on to pinch hit, representing the tying run, but Lewis got Lyons to chase a ball in the dirt to stymie the rally.

“We just couldn’t get the bats going,” LeBlanc said.

In the bottom of the seventh, Lewis struck out Carter Burnell and Delano Voccia-Hale swinging, then retired Seth Perry on infield pop out for the final out of the game.

“(Biddeford’s) a good team,” Owens said. “(Keith) does a really good job with them. So you always know they’re going to give you a tough game. They’re never going to roll over.”

Wildes was valiant in defeat for Biddeford, allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits and no walks while striking out three in a complete game effort.

“I thought (Wildes) did a really nice job of keeping us in the game,” said Biddeford head coach Keith Leblanc. “You know, we weren’t flawless defensively, and he just kept plugging along and pounding the zone.”

The Red Riots advance to play fourth-seeded Marshwood (12-5) in the semifinals on Saturday. The Hawks were the only team to beat South Portland in the regular season (a 2-1 win back on May 23), and also took down the Red Riots in the SMAA championship game, 1-0, on June 1.

“We’re confident,” Owen said. “We just have to get our bats going. (Marshwood’s) a really good team — they are very well-coached, they play good defense, they run, so we’re going to have to play our best game and have our best effort.”

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