Kaleb Kent, Blake Fillmore, Kyle Heath, Austin Blake and Pat Weimer piled on five Blue Blazes hits for six runs in Westbrook’s very first ups at Gorham Friday afternoon – enough to claim victory, it would turn out. But before that happened, the team added 10 more, while the struggling Rams added five of their own, for a 16-5 final.

The win bumps the reigning State Champion Blazes to 5-1 on the season. Gorham slips to 1-6; the Rams dropped five before picking up their first W, a 3-2 defeat of Deering at home on Thursday.

Westbrook head coach Greg Souza didn’t expect a blowout. “They’re a well-coached team, and they have kids that show up and compete. They’ve lost games that are close, too … The league’s pretty even this year; there’s no one team that stands out.”

“We put some hits together, put some runs up really quick; our starting pitcher (Weimer) did really well,” Souza said.

The Westbrook lineup bang, bang, banged out the hits from the first pitch onward; Kent opened with a single, Fillmore followed him with a double, and Heath knocked another single. Andrew St. Clair, Blake, Ethan Nash and Weimer went walk-single-walk-single, and when the dust finally settled on the Blazes’ fiery opening, they stood on top 6-0.

The Westbrook roster has turned over a great deal since last season’s championship run; graduation claimed a number of big names from the lineup, and a recent underage drinking controversy claimed some others. Nevertheless, Souza is happy with the players he’s got: “Our young guys have won. They won the Junior State Championship last year, so they’re used to winning anyways.

“So most of the young guys who are starting were starting last year regardless. They’re good players. It’s just a matter of getting a year under their belt, getting some swings; it’s a different pace from JV,” he said.

The Blazes added two in the third and four more in the fourth, and the game looked to end in the fifth on the 10-run rule. But the Rams seized their last chance to charge, finally rounding some bodies across home; they’d already accrued five solid hits – four singles by Dylan Turner, Brendan Mercier, Logan Drouin and Andrew Schmidt and a double by Mercier – so they were clearly connecting in the box. They just hadn’t completed yet.

That changed when Eric Komulainen opened Gorham’s ups with a grounder single to third. He reached second when Schmidt walked and scored when Jordan Ward blasted a double into right-center. Nick Greatorex singled to score Schmidt, and two batters later, Corey Nadeau walked, pushing Ward home again. 12-3, and the Rams had earned themselves continued life.

The Blazes hashed four more (Kent, Fillmore, Heath and St. Clair all scored) in the top of the sixth, so when Gorham returned to the plate, they needed to match the opposition if they wanted to reach the seventh. They managed to get two around – Turner and Drouin – but couldn’t turn the spark into a rally. Westbrook with the W, 16-5.

“One thing I thought we were going to do,” Souza said of the Blazes’ season leading up to the Gorham game, “was hit – and we hadn’t hit. Today we broke out, and hopefully some guys get going from this, get some confidence. Kyle Heath was hitting like .125 – I know he’s not going to hit .125 all year.” Heath was last year’s SMAA batting champion, swinging .444.

“I said [to Heath], ‘You know, we’re 4-1 going into this, and you’re hitting .125. So it’s like money in the bank for us. We know you can hit.’

“Same thing with Austin Blake,” Souza added. “He had a couple hits today, some RBIs, Blake Fillmore had three hits.”

Gorham’s Andrew Schmidt takes a cut in the box at home against Westbrook Friday afternoon.Westbrook starter Pat Weimer rips a pitch toward home at Gorham Friday afternoon.Blazes first baseman DJ Henrikson waits for the throw.Gorham starter Michael Chapin winds into his pitch early in the Rams’ home bout with Westbrook Friday afternoon.Gorham’s Eric Komulainen chases down Westbrook’s Kyle Heath, caught in a pickle.Westbrook’s Kaleb Kent returns to base.The ball gets away from Westbrook shortstop Keigan Sears; Gorham’s Brendan Mercier gets a hand on second.Gorham’s Brendan Mercier lands on first.