WATERVILLE — Three outs from losing via the mercy rule, the Waterville Senior High School baseball team staged an improbable comeback to take a 14-13 win over John Bapst in a Class B East semifinal game.
No. 2 Waterville, now 17-1, will play in the Eastern Maine final at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor, Wednesday at 7 p.m. No. 3 John Bapst ends the season at 13-5.
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Trailing 13-1 entering the bottom of the fifth inning, Waterville scored eight runs to cut the Crusaders’ lead to 13-9. In the sixth inning, the Panthers scored five more runs, all with two outs and all without a base hit.
With Lance Lefebrve on second base, Matt Lee was hit by a pitch and Brian Bellows walked to load the bases. Dan Pooler’s walk drove in a run, and Racean Wood was hit by a pitch to cut the Bapst lead to 13-11. J.T. Whitten was hit by a pitch to make it a one-run game. Tyler Bouchard hit a ground ball to shortstop, but Sean O’Donnell’s throw to second went into the outfield, allowing the tying and go ahead runs to score.
The Crusaders got a runner on first base in the seventh, but Bouchard caught Max Andrews’ deep fly ball to right to end the game.
John Bapst scored eight runs in the second inning, the big hit a three-run home run by Andrews. Evan Pelkey also homered in the second for Bapst.
The Crusaders added four runs in the third, the big hit a two-run double by Dan Davis, to push their lead to 12-0.
Brian Bellows threw 4 1/3 innings of relief for Waterville, allowing just one run, to earn the win.
John Bapst pitchers Pelkey, Jon Deschaine and Andrews combined to walk seven and hit six Waterville batters.
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