KENNEBUNK — The Kennebunk baseball team has had no problem grabbing early leads this season. Keeping those leads, and keeping opposing teams off the base paths and the scoreboard, has been a much different story.

After staking themselves to a 3-0 lead against York Wednesday, the Rams weren’t able to hold on or respond when the Wildcats’ bats got rolling as a six-run fifth inning broke open a close game as York went on to a 10-6 victory in the Western Maine Conference game.

It was the third loss to start the season for Kennebunk, which has led in all three games but allowed 39 total runs to opponents. For a team that returned a bevy of its top performers and was dropping down from Class A to Class B, it hasn’t exactly been the anticipated opening to the season.

“I really feel that we read the papers a little too much, and people tell us we’re going to be good. You can’t just show up and play, and we’ve got to show up with a little more intensity,” Rams coach Brian Dill said. “We didn’t pitch very well or play good defense, and (York’s) a good team. A lot of things add up to getting beat.”

Kennebunk was missing five starters, away on an April vacation school trip, in its first two games, 17-7 and 12-5 losses to Poland and Greely, including No. 1 starter Nick Emmons.

Emmons was on the mound Wednesday, and, with a 3-0 lead after two innings, looked to be sailing with two outs in the third. But three straight hits, including Jordan Pidgeon’s two-RBI double, got York back to within one.

Emmons pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth but was lifted in the fifth after allowing the first two runners to reach, leaving after giving up eight hits and two walks in four innings.

“The cold doesn’t help, and Nick was a little rusty,” Dill said. “He wasn’t sharp like he normally is. His control hurt him more than anything. He had a lot of long counts and they got some guys on base and some key hits.”

“I was very happy with the way we approached Emmons and made him pitch,” York coach Chuck Chadbourne said. “He made us look foolish a couple times, but we had the demeanor of ”˜we’ll shake it off and get him the next time.’ I think we just caught him on a good day, because he’s tough.”

Robby Burns took over for Emmons, and after a walk to load the bases, induced a run-scoring groundout to first that tied the game. Forrest Kelly then gave the Wildcats a 5-3 lead with a single that was just fair down the third base line, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double.

With two outs and the bases empty, Burns couldn’t get out of the inning, allowing three singles, hitting two batters and suffering from some shaky outfield defense as York scored three more runs to take a commanding 8-3 lead.

The Rams were able to get two back on Kip Richards’ two RBI single in the bottom of the fifth, but the Wildcats hit back with two in the sixth to take a 10-5 lead, with an Emmons’ home run to deep left the only run Kennebunk could manage off of Wildcats reliever Sam Johnson in the final two innings.

It was a big win for York (2-1), the defending Class B state champions who started four sophomores and two freshmen. That included freshman starting pitcher Trevor LaBonte, who allowed three runs in the second inning on Ben Wilson’s run-scoring groundout and Burns’ two-RBI double.

But LaBonte struck out Emmons with runners on second and third to get out of the inning, and ended up going five, allowing five runs on eight hits and two walks to pick up the win.

“We’re down 3-0 with a freshman on the mound, Emmons on the mound, we could have packed it in. But we kept chipping away and kept battling,” Chadbourne said. “Our freshman went out and kept us in the ballgame and didn’t get rattled, and it just took a couple hits to get kids going and get them confident.”

Kennebunk will look to get some confidence and into the win column on Friday, when it hosts another 0-3 team in Lake Region. Dill is looking for a better all-around effort, starting upstairs.

“We played better the first two games than today as far as doing all the things we should do. We weren’t into the game today,” Dill said. “The thing about sports is you have to earn things. It’s not people say we’re the team to beat, so we must be. We’ve got some work to do.”

— Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or [email protected].