WATERVILLE — It took some time for the bats to get going for the Mount Desert Island baseball team.
But No. 9 MDI eventually found its groove en route to a 9-3 victory over No. 8 Waterville in a Class B North prelim game Monday afternoon at Colby College.
Up 5-3, the Trojans (8-9) were able to add four insurance runs, highlighted by a two-run triple by Brendan Graves and an RBI triple by Aiden Grant to seal the victory.
“All of a sudden, we go from striking out looking every other batter to putting balls in the gap, left and right,” said MDI’s Jay Haney, who earned the win on the mound, striking out eight batters in 6 1/3 innings. “I think we’ve got a special group of guys who like being together, who just compete.”
MDI will meet No. 1 Old Town in the quarterfinals. Waterville finished 9-8.
The Trojans spoiled a strong performance from Waterville pitcher Ben Foster. The sophomore struck out 14 MDI batters in six innings of work.
“I think all it takes is a play here or there in a tight game like that to flip the table,” Waterville head coach Russell Beckwith said. “They got that last rally in, then it was us trying to scratch our way through. We fought most of the year with good pitches. We had the guy on the mound we wanted. I think we just needed to capitalize a little more.”
Waterville’s Spencer Minihan slides safely into home as MDI pitcher Jay Haney fields the throw on a passed ball during a Class B North baseball prelim game Monday at Colby College in Waterville. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
Waterville jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Spencer Minihan reached base on an error and eventually scored from third base on a wild pitch. Garrett Gendreau then walked and he eventually scored on an RBI groundout from John Newfal.
MDI tied the game 2-2 in the third inning, when Joey Wellman-Clouse plated Jacob Shields with an RBI double. Jay Haney scored Wellman-Clouse with an RBI single for the 2-2 score.
Both teams remained tied until the sixth inning, when the Trojans scored three runs to take a 5-2 lead. The inning was highlighted by an RBI triple from MDI’s Colin Sullivan, who clubbed a Foster fastball off the left field wall to score Haney.
“(Foster) is a heck of a pitcher,” MDI head coach Matt Haney said. “We did some scouting ahead of time… He was everything that he was cracked up to be, that kid’s a good pitcher. He was knocking us down early, but we just competed and some of our guys with experience, they just stuck with it and didn’t give up. Then we were able to just chip away and chip away, open it up there at the end.”
Waterville got a run back in the bottom of the inning, when Gage Hubbard hit a sacrifice fly to center field to plate Foster and cut the lead to 5-3.
Wyatt Gradie relieved Foster in the seventh, and the Trojans racked up four runs on four hits to secure the win.
“We have a really good group of athletes,” Beckwith said. “We have a lot of baseball talent here. We’re going to lose a couple of guys, a couple of seniors that are really key. But we have a good, young core that’s going to stick with it as well. Just like every year, we expect to be right here or better this time next year.”
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