GARDINER — Winslow High School’s Jake Trask pitches like he’s got somewhere to be. The lanky senior never has to be prodded to pick up the pace.

“I don’t really know what waiting, stepping off the mound, all of that stuff, does. I just like to work and get it done,” Trask said.

On Friday afternoon, Trask certainly worked and got it done. In an important Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference game, Trask held Gardiner to three hits, helping the Black Raiders take a 6-0 win.

With the win, Winslow (11-1) jumped into first place in the Class B North Heal point standings. Gardiner fell to 9-4 and remained in sixth place in the region.

Trask got into a rhythm early, throwing his fastball, curveball and changeup for strikes. Trask walked one, struck out eight and had 10 groundball outs. He credited the pitch calling of catcher Dameron Rodrigue as a key to the day’s success.

“Usually when my fastball’s going good, my curve’s pretty good. Along with working fast, I know it kind of keeps the fielders in the game. They played really well behind me today,” Trask said.

With confidence in all three of his pitches, Trask was able to throw curveballs in counts the Tiger hitters might have been expecting fastball, like 2-0 and 3-1.

“Guys on, guys not on, it doesn’t matter. He gets in a groove and just throws,” Winslow coach Aaron Wolfe said. “The big thing with (Trask) is, he can throw any pitch for a strike. A lot of high school pitchers throw maybe a fastball for strike and have trouble with other pitches. He was throwing his offspeed for strikes as much as his fastball. It’s hard for a hitter when he’s throwing everything for strikes and not knowing what’s coming.”

A few times, Gardiner hitters tried to call timeout or slow Trask down. It didn’t work.

“We had a couple guys who started looking down for signs more in situations we really aren’t going to put anything on. We’ve seen Jake three or four times in the last couple of years. We know how he works,” Gardiner coach Russell Beckwith said.

The Tigers only hit one ball hard — Hunter Chasse’s double to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning. After a trip through the lineup, and knowing Trask was throwing his curve for strikes, the Tigers tried to jump on it when Trask brought the breaking stuff. Chasse’s double to the left-center field gap was the only success with that approach.

The Black Raiders took advantage of Gardiner mistakes to score most of their runs. Five of the six runners who scored for Winslow reached base via error or walk. An aggressive base running team, the Black Raiders swiped six bases, with four of the base thieves eventually scoring.

“We’ve got some smart runners. I wouldn’t say we’re much faster than any other team,” Wolfe said.

Winslow started the scoring with a run in the second inning. With two out, Tyler Camire reached on a two-base error and scored on Trenton Bouchard’s single. The Black Raiders added two more runs in the third. Ben Smith walked, stole second, went to third on a fly ball to center, and scored on a throwing error. Trask walked and later scored on Patrick Hopkins’ groundout to short.

“A lot of credit goes to Winslow for taking advantage of their opportunities. I put a lot of it on us, too. We’re a much better defensive team than that. I think the situation kind of overwhelmed us today,” Beckwith said.

Winslow made it a 4-0 game in the sixth, when Trenton Bouchard walked and scored on Spencer Miranda’s bloop single to right field. In the seventh, Ryan Gagnon hit an RBI single, and Bouchard an RBI double for the Black Raiders.

Bouchard had four hits and reached base four times. Miranda had two hits for Winslow.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM

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