PORTLAND—It’s safe to say that South Portland sophomore Hudson Iacuessa knows his way around Hadlock Field.
After all, his father, Geoff Iacuessa, is the President and General Manager of the Portland Sea Dogs.
But prior to Thursday afternoon, Hudson Iacuessa had never taken the mound in a varsity game at Maine’s most famous ballpark and once he got his opportunity, against the vastly improved Deering Rams, he made himself right at home.
With a brilliant, complete game performance.
Which was just enough to lead the Red Riots to a key late-season victory.
South Portland took the lead with two unearned runs in the top of the first, on an error and an RBI single from junior shortstop Easton Healy.
Iacuessa struck out the side in the first two innings and in the top of the third, he came through with the bat as well, lining an RBI single to score junior second baseman Corbin Voisine, who had doubled.
Iacuessa held the Rams at bay until the bottom of the sixth, when freshman catcher Miles Lawrence hit a clutch two-out, two-run single to cut the Red Riots’ lead to a single run.
And then, in the bottom of the seventh, Deering put the tying and winning runs on base, but Iacuessa finished with a flourish, with his 12th strikeout of the afternoon, bringing the curtain down on a 3-2 victory.
Iacuessa helped South Portland win for the fifth time in six outings, improve to 9-6 and in the process, drop the Rams to 5-9.
“It was unbelievable to pitch here,” Iacuessa said. “I grew up watching a ton of games here. It was really fun to pitch on this mound.”
Playoff jockeying
South Portland and Deering finished on the opposite end of the competitive spectrum a year ago, as the Red Riots won the Class A title for the second time in three years, while the Rams failed to win a single game.
This spring, each squad has worked its way to the middle of the pack in a deep and balanced Class A South.
After opening with losses at Biddeford (9-4), at Thornton Academy (6-3) and at home to Sanford (17-4, in six-innings), Deering snapped a three-year, 24-game skid with a 4-3 victory at Windham. Deering then lost at home to Marshwood (10-0), at Noble (6-4) and at Massabesic (10-2) before earning its biggest victory in years, shocking host Scarborough, which entered the game undefeated, 8-7. The Rams then lost at Falmouth (6-0) before beating rival Portland, 1-0, in a game played at The Ballpark in Old Orchard Beach. After falling at home to Gorham (12-6), Deering beat visiting Bonny Eagle, 3-1, then rallied from nine-runs down to stun visiting Kennebunk (10-9) Saturday.
South Portland, which lost some of the best players in recent program history to graduation, started with victories over host Sanford (6-4, in eight-innings), visiting Westbrook (11-1, in five-innings) and host Noble (13-3, in five-innings). After losing at home to Falmouth (7-0), the Red Riots were beaten by host Kennebunk (9-1) and after downing visiting Portland (9-6), they lost at Scarborough (5-4), at home to Massabesic (8-1) and at home to Thornton Academy (5-1). Since then, however, South Portland had been nearly perfect, even if it meant going more than seven innings, defeating host Biddeford in eight-innings (6-2), visiting Bonny Eagle in nine-innings (2-1), visiting Marshwood (2-0) and after falling at Windham (3-1), outlasting visiting Cheverus in nine-innings Tuesday (5-4).
“It’s been a little frustrating at times, but it is fun,” said longtime Red Riots coach Mike Owens. “I talk to the kids about how I’ve coached them and being hard on them at times and I’ve had to step back and realize these are young kids that haven’t been here before and I can’t have the same expectations for them that I did with (Andrew) Heffernan and (Nolan) Hobbs and those other guys from last year. This preseason was like starting over, teaching fundamentals.”
A year ago, host South Portland had no trouble beating Deering, 10-0, in five-innings.
Thursday, on a bright and pleasant 73-degree afternoon, the Rams sought their first win over the Red Riots since May 21, 2013 (6-1 on the road) and their first over South Portland at Hadlock Field since May 30, 2011 (7-3), but instead, the Red Riots beat Deering for the 11th consecutive meeting.
South Portland took a quick lead in the top of the first.
With a little help.
Deering senior pitcher Avery Lawrence opens the game with a pitch to South Portland sophomore Alex Horton. The Red Riots would ultimately prevail, 3-2. Hoffer photos.
Sophomore centerfielder Alex Horton led off by going the other way with a 1-2 pitch and grounding it past first for a single. Horton took off on the first pitch to junior second baseman Corbin Voisine and got to second when Voisine bounced out to second. Iaucessa then grounded up the middle, where senior shortstop Tavian Lauture got to the ball and threw out the batter, with Horton moving to third. Junior rightfielder Curtis Metcalf then hit a slow roller to third, which junior Alex Jordan got to, but his throw to first pulled senior Jackson Forrest off the bag, allowing Metcalf to reach safely and Horton to score. Metcalf then stole second and Healy followed with a line single to left-center to bring home Metcalf. Sophomore catcher Cam Barrett watched strike three, but the damage was done and the Red Riots were up, 2-0.
South Portland sophomore Hudson Iacuessa fires a pitch to Deering junior Tavian Lauture.
In the bottom half, Iacuessa put on a show, fanning Avery Lawrence and after falling behind Lauture, 3-0, he came back to strike him out looking before getting freshman catcher Miles Lawrence to watch strike three as well.
“I felt really good out of the gate,” Iacuessa said. “My slider felt really good. My fastball too and my curveball, when I needed it. It was really nice to get those runs. I feel much more confident and comfortable on the mound with a lead.”
In the top of the second, Avery Lawrence settled in and got junior second baseman Kason Lewis to ground back to the mound before fanning freshman third baseman Jude Charltray and sophomore designated hitter Ben Morin with high heat.
Iaucessa picked up where he left off in the bottom of the second, striking out Forrest, then getting senior centerfielder Andrew Cook to chase strike three as well before inducing sophomore leftfielder Zeke Dewever to swing and miss at a low pitch and while the ball bounced away from Barrett, he was able to get to it in time to throw to first just before Dewever arrived to conclude the inning.
South Portland added to its lead in the top of the third, as Iacuessa helped his cause.
Horton chased strike three leading off, but Voisine went the other way and lined the ball down the rightfield line for a double. Iacuessa then lined a single through the hole between third and short, easily scoring Voisine.
“I was just looking for a fastball, got one and drove it the other way,” said Iacuessa. “We swung the bats really well today against a good pitcher.”
Healy struck out looking, but the lead was up to 3-0.
Deering got its first hit, as Jordan led off the bottom half with a first-pitch single to right-center, but Iacuessa promptly picked him off. Freshman second baseman Yadier Lorda-Flores then fouled off multiple pitches and worked the count full before lining sharply to junior leftfielder Michael Zaccaria. Freshman rightfielder Gus Groh chased strike three and that ended the frame.
The Rams showed off some superb defense in the top of the fourth, as Barrett hit a slow roller on a 3-2 pitch to third and Jordan came in and made the play to throw him out before Lauture raised the bar by diving to his right on a sharp Lewis grounder to the hole, springing to his feet, then throwing across to first, where Forrest dug the ball out. Charltray kept the inning alive with a single the other way, through the hole between short and third, and Morin blooped a first-pitch single to center before Horton grounded out sharply Lauture-to-Lorda-Flores to end the threat.
In the bottom half, Deering threatened, but couldn’t cut into the deficit.
Avery Lawrence led off with a single to left-center, then Lauture tried to reach on a bunt to the right of the mound, but the ball was to Iacuessa’s glove hand and he pounced on it and threw to first just in time for the first out. Miles Lawrence then grounded out slowly to third to move his older brother over to third, but Forrest couldn’t deliver the run, chasing an off-speed pitch for strike three.
Voisine started the top of the fifth by bouncing out to second. Iacuessa then reached when he grounded to Lauture and the throw got away for an error, allowing Iaucessa to move to second. He’d take third when Metcalf bounced out to short, but was stranded when Avery Lawrence fanned Healy.
In the bottom half, Cook led off with a line drive to right, but it was right at Metcalf for the first out, then Iacuessa caught both Dewever and Jordan looking at strike three.
Avery Lawrence had his best inning in the top of the sixth, catching Barrett looking at strike three, fanning Lewis, then getting Charltray to swing and miss on a 3-2 pitch.
In the bottom half, Deering got right back in the game.
Lorda-Flores drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch, then Groh went the other way, lining a double down the third base line, but after a meeting on the mound, Iacuessa caught Avery Lawrence looking at strike three and Lauture flew out to shallow center, with the runners holding. Iacuessa was on the brink of escaping the jam, but Miles Lawrence lined a single to right-center, scoring both Lorda-Flores and Groh.
Deering’s Gus Groh follows Yadier Lorda-Flores across the plate to cut South Portland’s lead to 3-2.
Lawrence was able to take second on a passed ball, but Forrest flew out to center to end the inning, keeping the score 3-2.
Avery Lawrence then did his job in the top of the seventh, getting Morin to ground out to third, then getting to a little pop-up off the bat of Horton that went over his head before throwing him out and inducing a line out to center off the bat of Voisine to send the contest to the bottom of the seventh.
There, the Rams had a chance to pull off another come-from-behind win, but with the game hanging in the balance, Iacuessa was able to slam the door.
Cook hit the ball hard leading off, but he lined it directly at Horton in center for the first out. Dewever then drove the ball to center, but Horton ran that down as well. When Iacuessa got ahead of freshman pinch-hitter John Bechard 0-2, the win was close enough to taste, but his next pitch hit the batter. Lorda-Flores, who had good at-bats all game, then lined a single up the middle to put the tying run at second and the potential winning run at first. Groh then had a chance to play the hero, but he flailed at three straight pitches to end it and South Portland escaped, 3-2.
“I wanted to finish it badly,” said Iacuessa. “(The coaches) asked me and I said, ‘Yep, I’ve got it.’ I had confidence. I trusted myself and I just threw the same pitch.”
“I was really pleased with our effort, especially early,” Owens said. “We made no errors today. That hurt us earlier in the year and we’ve cut way back on that. We had a rough stretch and it hasn’t always been pretty, but we’re about where I thought we’d be at this point.”
South Portland’s offense featured Horton, Metcalf and Voisine scoring runs and Healy and Iacuessa with RBI. The Red Riots stranded five baserunners.
“We knew coming in that (Lawrence) is an excellent pitcher,” Owens said. “We’ve been struggling at the plate this year. We concentrated in practice on velocity and being quicker to the ball. Even though we only had six hits, I think we competed well at the plate and put balls in play. We barreled up some balls they made nice plays on.”
Iacuessa went the distance, giving up five hits and just two runs on 103 pitches. He walked one, hit a batter and fanned a dozen.
“Hudson was really good today,” Owens said. “He had the one little hiccup in the sixth inning when he looked like he was getting a little tired and that was the mound visit to refocus him and have him concentrate on mechanics. He came back strong and almost got out of that inning. He was one pitch away. Then, he had a solid seventh inning.
“He’s a young, talented kid who’s still learning how to compete and finish games. The sixth and seventh innings are difficult. He’s had a little trouble getting through the lineup a third or fourth time, but today, he got it done. He still looked in control and had good stuff, so we didn’t need to end it quite yet.”
Deering got runs scored from Groh and Lorda-Flores and two RBI from Miles Lawrence. The Rams left four runners on base.
Avery Lawrence was the tough-luck loser, giving up three runs (just one earned) on six hits in a complete game effort. Lawrence didn’t walk a batter and struck out nine.
“Avery comes in and battles,” said Rams’ first-year coach Casey Lawrence. “He knows he only has a few games left, especially on this field. He wants to finish up his career on a high note.”
“We just hang in there until the end. We know in close games anything can happen. We talked about not digging ourselves a hole to climb out of. You can’t come back and win them all. We need to avoid mistakes earlier in the game to help ourselves. (Hudson) was throwing great from the beginning. We haven’t seen a tall lefty that can throw like that. He mixed it up well and kept us off-balance. We made adjustments at the end, but we needed to do it earlier to get his pitch count up. ”
Finish line nears
Deering, ranked 11th in the Class A South Heal Points standings at press time, is on track to be one of the 12 teams from the region to qualify for the playoffs. The Rams go to Cheverus Saturday, then close at home versus Westbrook Tuesday of next week.
“I’m not sure where we are after this,” said Casey Lawrence. “We still have two games left. Hopefully, we’ll take care of business and see where we land. It would be great for us to make the playoffs. It would be a nice stepping-stone to build for the future.”
South Portland (tied for eighth in Class A South) has just one outing left, Friday at Gorham.
“This means a lot with playoffs coming,” Iacuessa said. “We’re growing up and we just want to win ball games. We want to get homefield advantage for the first round.”
“This just gives us a little confidence,” said Owens. “We just need to compete every game, every inning. We’ve played the top teams toe-to-toe and some of the teams at the bottom of the bracket have given us a hard time. We know we have to come ready to compete every game. We have a tough Gorham team tomorrow, then we’ll see if we can make a run.
“We’re not wearing the bulls-eye this year. We wanted to get better as the year went on and get in (the playoffs). We want potential opponents to look at the Heal Points and say, ‘Oh no, there’s South Portland.’ We don’t have a ton of kids back, but we do have a pedigree and we know how to win. We hope to get the opportunity. We’re just trying different things and hopefully, we’ll get the right recipe before the end. We hope to get hot at the right time. It would be nice to get in and make some noise and knock somebody out and see what happens from there.”
Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net.
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