Wiscasset baseball wins playoff opener
After three innings, Wiscasset High School boys baseball coach Mike Bowles faced a dilemma.
Should he leave in pitcher Darren Wood, who had racked up seven strikeouts and allowed no hits in the first three innings of the Wolverine's June 11 playoff match-up against Valley High School, or remove Wood so that the pitcher would be available Saturday should Wiscasset advance?
In the end, Wood was lifted and Wiscasset needed only five innings to dispatch Valley, 10-0, to advance in the Western Class D playoffs. The Wolverines will have a Saturday match-up in Richmond with the top-ranked team.
Bowles said having Wood available Saturday outweighed a no-hitter and the Wolverines were able to execute on the mound, in the field and at the plate, which ultimately made the decision easier.
“The guys were able to put together great at bats, they put the ball in play and they made things happen,” he said. “They executed in all three facets of the game.”
Tyler Bailey was able to pick up where Wood left off and blanked Valley over the last two innings.
Wiscasset scored in the first inning after Wood drove home Grant Hefler, who had singled and stolen second. The Wolverines wasted no time adding to that lead: Nate Howard and Matt Craig crossed the plate in the second inning to push the lead to 3-0.
The bats came alive in the third, as Wood, Chandler Longfellow, Tyler Bailey and Howard scored runs to push the lead to 7-0.
Wiscasset would end the game with one out in fifth after Wood hit a pop-up that landed in no-man's land behind first base to score Tyler Flavin. Hefler made a snap decision to race home on a wild throw to score the 10th run and end the game.
“That's a pretty fun way to end a game,” Bowles said.
Now Wiscasset will turn its attention to Richmond, which went 12-1 in the regular season en route to a first-round bye.
But, Bowles said the Wolverines aren't going into the match-up as underdogs.
“Normally, it would be an upset if a number four team beats a one seed,” he said. “I don't think it would be an upset if we win. This is what the guys have been working for all season. They're prepared for it.”
Richmond will throw out ace Mike Stewart, whom many of the Wolverines know from past encounters, Bowles said. The Wiscasset coach has yet to name his starter.
“(Stewart) throws hard and he throws strikes,” Bowles said. “But, a lot of these guys have faced him in Little League or in Babe Ruth.”
As soon as the Valley game was over, the focus turned to Richmond, which is another step towards Wiscasset’s end goal, Bowles said.
“This is just a step closer to where we want to be,” he said. “At the beginning of the year I said we wanted to make a run at a state title.
“Now, it's within reach.”
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