BOX SCORE

Thornton Academy 3 Scarborough 1

TA- 000 102 0- 3 6 2
S- 000 001 0- 1 4 1

Top 4th
Lausier scored on wild pitch.

Top 6th
Williams singled to center, Cote scored. McLeer flew out to center, Bowker scored.

Bottom 6th
Frink singled to left, O’Brien scored.

Multiple hits:
TA- Schaffer
S- Townsend

Runs:
TA- Bowker, Cote, Lausier
S- O’Brien

RBI:
TA- McLeer, Williams
S- Frink

Stolen base:
S- O’Brien

Left on base:
TA- 5
S- 5

Bowker and Graffam; Griffiths, Gambardella (6) and Frink.

TA:
Bowker (W) 7 IP 4 H 1 R 0 ER 0 BB 10 K 1 HBP

S:
* Griffiths (L) 5+ IP 3 H 3 R 2 ER 1 B 4 K 1 WP
Gambardella 2 IP 3 H 0 R 1 BB 1 K 1 WP

* Griffiths pitched to two batters in the the sixth.

Time: 1:36

SCARBOROUGH—Scarborough’s baseball team was nearly perfect during the regular season, but the Red Storm’s Achilles’ heel proved to be a powerhouse from one town away.

Wednesday afternoon at the Kippy Mitchell Sports Complex, Scarborough wrapped up its regular season by hosting a Thornton Academy squad which handed it its only loss.

And the Golden Trojans proceeded to go out and do it again.

Thanks in large part to another dominant performance from junior ace Cody Bowker.

Bowker allowed just two hits in the first three innings, but Red Storm freshman starter Harrison Griffiths was even better, retiring the first 10 batters he faced.

In the top of the fourth, Thornton Academy went on top, as sophomore centerfielder Henry Lausier beat out an infield single, moved to third on a throwing error, then scored on a wild pitch.

With Bowker holding Scarborough at bay, the Golden Trojans got a pair of insurance runs in the top of the sixth, as sophomore first baseman Brayden Williams hit an RBI single and junior rightfielder Michael McLeer added a sacrifice fly.

The Red Storm tried to answer in the bottom half, as junior catcher Nic Frink hit an RBI single and the tying runs reached base, but Bowker got out of the jam with a pair of strikeouts, then set Scarborough down in order in the seventh to give Thornton Academy a 3-1 victory.

The Golden Trojans finished the regular season 12-3, dropped the Red Storm to 14-2 and in the process, at least temporarily leapfrogged Scarborough for the top spot in Class A South.

“(Thornton’s) a great team,” said Red Storm first-year coach Wes Ridlon. “They came up with a couple hits and we didn’t. Our brand of baseball is pitching, defense and timely hitting and we couldn’t get the big hit today.”

Finale

Scarborough and Thornton Academy established themselves early on as top contenders in Class A South.

The Golden Trojans roared out of the gates with decisive victories over Cheverus (14-4), Windham (11-1), Deering (23-0) and Biddeford (13-0). After downing Portland, 7-1, the Golden Trojans handed host Scarborough its first loss,, 3-2, then fell from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 4-3 loss at Falmouth. Thornton Academy quickly bounced back, edging visiting Biddeford, 2-1, blanking host South Portland (2-0) and beating visiting Bonny Eagle in the opener of a doubleheader, 13-1 (in five-innings). The Golden Trojans lost the second game, 7-3, then, after a 7-0 shutout win over Gorham, Thornton Academy fell at South Portland, 3-1. The Golden Trojans enjoyed a 10-1 home win over Westbrook Tuesday.

The Red Storm, meanwhile, started with a 14-1, six-inning win at Deering, then downed visiting Portland (10-1), host Falmouth (9-3), visiting Gorham (3-0), host Westbrook (11-1, in five-innings) and host Cheverus (3-1, in eight-innings). After losing at home to Thornton Academy (3-2), Scarborough rattled off victories at Westbrook (9-4), at home over South Portland (2-1, in an 11-inning marathon), at home over Biddeford (8-7 and 9-3 in a doubleheader sweep), at home over Windham (5-4, in eight-innings), at Bonny Eagle (15-3, in six-innings, and 6-1 in a doubleheader sweep) and 1-0 at South Portland Tuesday.

In the teams’ first meeting May 15, Bowker and sophomore Josh Kopetski combined to earn the win while McLeer had the big hit, a two-run single.

Wednesday, in the rematch, on a cloudy, 73-degree afternoon, the Red Storm sought to beat the Golden Trojans for the first time in three years, but Thornton Academy closed strong.

Griffiths started impressively, getting Bowker to fly out to right, Lausier to ground out to short and junior catcher Brady Graffam to fly out to right.

In the bottom half, Bowker got senior centerfielder Peter O’Brien to fly out to center, struck out senior shortstop T.J. Liponis, then got Frink to pop out foul down the first base line and Bowker made the catch to retire the side.

Griffiths then struck out Williams leading off the top of the second, before falling behind 3-1 and battling back to get McLeer to ground out to first unassisted and getting freshman shortstop Jeremiah Chessie to ground out to short.

In the bottom half, Bowker struck out junior designated hitter Thomas Donahue and junior rightfielder Ben Seguin swinging, but senior third baseman Joe Townsend went the other way and lined a single to left and on the first pitch, junior first baseman Cade Sullivan singled the other way as well, to right. Bowker was able to escape, however, by getting sophomore leftfielder Austin Blanchette to bounce into a shortstop-to-second base force out.

Griffiths continued to impress in the top of the third, getting junior leftfielder Christian Schaffer to pop out to second, bouncing back from a 3-0 count to get junior third baseman John Rohner to line out to second on a 3-2 pitch, then catching junior second baseman Jack Cote watching strike three.

In the bottom half, Bowker caught both junior second baseman Connor Gower and O’Brien looking at strike three before inducing a ground out to short off the bat of Liponis.

Thornton Aacdemy then broke through in the top of the fourth, with a little help.

Griffiths fanned Bowker to start the inning, but Lausier followed with a slow roller up the middle and he beat it out for an infield single. Griffiths then tried to pick Lausier off, but he threw wildly and Lausier was able to move up to third base.

“That’s one minor mistake, but I give credit to the base runner who forced throws over,” said Golden Trojans coach Jason Lariviere. “Whenever you throw over, you take a risk of (throwing the ball away). Then, you have to take advantage.”

Griffiths then bounced back by striking out Graffam, but strike three got away and Graffam reached first base and more importantly, Lausier scored for a 1-0 lead.

Griffiths avoided further harm by getting Williams to pop out to short and McLeer to bounce out to second.

Bowker had to work out of trouble in the bottom half, as he hit Frink with a pitch on the helmet leading off and Frink, who was unharmed, moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt from Donahue. Seguin flew out to left, but when Bowker threw wildly on a pickoff throw, Frink took third. He’d be stranded, however, as Townsend grounded out to short.

In the top of the fifth, Griffiths got Chessie to fly out to right and after Schaffer beat out an infield single to third, he tried to steal second on a hit-and-run with Rohner at the plate, but Rohner lined out to right and Seguin threw to Sullivan for the inning-ending double play.

In the bottom half, Bowker caught Sullivan looking, got Blanchette to line out softly to second, then caught Gower looking as well to end the inning.

The Golden Trojans then added to their lead in the top of the sixth.

Cote got things going by singling to left on the first pitch and Bowker drew a walk on four pitches, spelling the end of Griffiths’ day.

Senior Ryan Gambardella came on in relief and after getting Chessie to line out to left, where Blanchette made a sliding catch, Graffam blooped a single to right to load the bases. That brought up Williams, who lined a single to center, which scored Cote and reloaded the bases. McLeer was next and he flew out to center, a sacrifice fly which brought home Bowker to make it 3-0. Chessie grounded out to short, but the damage was done.

Scarborough then showed some life in the bottom half.

O’Brien led off by grounding the ball past Bowker to Chessie at short and when Chessie couldn’t handle the ball, O’Brien reached safely and promptly stole second. Liponis then flew out to right, but Frink lined a single to left to score O’Brien. Donahue then grounded a single through the hole between short and third to put the tying runs on, but Bowker responded, striking out both Seguin and Townsend to keep the score 3-1 heading for the seventh inning.

“Cody’s great and he was on today,” Ridlon said. “He did a nice job today battling in spots when we had runners in scoring position.”

“I knew Scarborough would make a run at us with their top four, five hitters,” said Lariviere.

In the seventh, Schaffer led off the top half with a single past a diving Gower at second and after Rohner flew out to center, Schaffer moved to second on a wild pitch, but Cote watched strike three and after Bowker was intentionally walked, Lausier flew out deep to center.

The Red Storm had one final chance, but could do nothing with Bowker in the bottom half, as Sullivan grounded back to the mound, Blanchette popped out foul to first and freshman pinch-hitter Mason Porter chased strike three to bring the curtain down on Thornton Academy’s 3-1 victory.

“It felt like a 1-0 game,” said Lariviere. “It’s going to be like that this year. All these teams can beat each other. We’re very happy with the win. It’s all about momentum in the playoffs, so we feel good about it.”

Bowker went the distance, allowing just one unearned run on four hits, striking out 10, hitting one and not walking a batter.

“The pitches came out of my hand quicker today,” Bowker said. “I did a good job mixing stuff in. The big thing was no walks. I felt good. None of the hits were smoked. They found holes, which is part of baseball. Even without the lead, I was confident we could pull it out. I was comfortable the whole time. I don’t change my approach much. I got ahead in the count and then I could throw every pitch. I was on the same page with my catcher and coach. I was effective just hitting my spots.”

“With all of our pitchers, especially Cody, we feel like they give us a chance to win,” Lariviere said. “Today, he threw really well. He threw strikes and he had really good stuff. He got ahead of hitters early, which helps, especially with his stuff. He was spotting his pitches. We’ve learned about (Scarborough’s) hitters. We’ve seen some tendencies and we try to exploit those and he did a terrific job.”

Schaffer paced the offense with a pair of hits. Bowker, Cote and Lausier scored runs and McLeer and Williams had RBI.

The Golden Trojans stranded five runners.

Scarborough managed just four hits, two coming from Townsend.

O’Brien scored the run and Frink had the RBI.

O’Brien had the game’s lone stolen base.

The Red Storm left five runners on base.

Griffiths was the hard-luck loser, giving up three runs (two earned) on three hits in five-plus innings. He walked one, struck out four and threw one wild pitch.

“Harrison battled,” Ridlon said. “He threw really well. He threw strikes and gave us an opportunity to win.”

Gambardella surrendered two hits in two scoreless innings of relief. He walked one, threw a wild pitch and fanned one.

On to bigger things

Thornton Academy will be one of the top two seeds for the upcoming Class A South tournament and has the necessary ingredients to make a deep run.

“We just need to stay together as a team and get after it,” Bowker said. “When we have fun, we win games. I want the ball as much as possible.”

“It really doesn’t matter if we’re 1 or 2,” Lariviere said. “It’s going to be a close race. I love my kids’ work ethic and I like their approach and what they’re doing. I like our chances, but we’re not overconfident. We know we’re one big inning away from losing.”

Scarborough, coming off its best regular season since 2013, will be a top two seed as well and hopes to recreate the magic of two years ago.

“We’ll take 14-2,” Ridlon said. “We’re happy with it, but we know we have more work to do. We’ll play who they tell us to play. I think it’ll come down to pitching, defense and timely hitting. If we can do that, we’ll make a nice run.”

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.

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