CORINTH, Maine – Since Little League, John Bapst High School sophomore righthander Chris Hammond said his father, Norris, preached to him the value of throwing strikes.
“He told me to throw strikes and let them put the ball in play and good things will happen,” said Hammond after hurling a complete game six-hitter, walking just one, to lead the Crusaders to a 7-3 win over Central Tuesday afternoon.
The Bangor-based Crusaders wound up the regular season at 10-5-1. Central finished at 6-10.
Hammond struck out eight and hit a batter while throwing 101 pitches, 61 for strikes.
“My fastball worked pretty well but mainly it was the slider. I kept them off-balance with my slider. That was my go-to pitch today,” said Hammond, who improved to 3-3.
“He had decent velocity on his fastball and his curve kept people off balance,” said Central third baseman Nick Harvey who considered Hammond among the best pitchers they’ve faced this season.
“He’s right up there,” said Harvey.
“He was pretty good,” agreed Central catcher Zach Kirlin.
Hammond was also aided by his defense as the Crusaders committed just one error. Right fielder Miles Gagnon made a nice running catch to strand a runner in the fifth and left fielder Derek Smith made a great diving catch in the sixth.
“The defense has been great all year. They really helped me out and Bill [catcher Bill Wetherbee] caught a great game,” said Hammond.
Senior center fielder Chase Huckestein paced the Bapst attack with two triples and a single, two runs and an RBI and Hammond helped his cause with a run-scoring double plus a single.
Harvey singled home an unearned run in the first for Central, but Huckestein’s opposite-field triple to right in the second off Jake Speed and Gagnon’s sacrifice fly tied it.
Bapst took the lead for good in the third when Casey Hull singled, stole second and third and scored on Huckestein’s bloop single into right.
Bapst added two more apiece in the fourth and fifth innings.
In the fourth, a walk and a double error produced one run and Hull’s sacrifice fly, which was dropped for an error, delivered the other run.
In the fifth, a walk, Hammond’s RBI double to right center and Matt Duplisea’s two-out, run-producing infield single made it 6-1.
JB added its final run in the sixth on Huckestein’s long triple to right and another Gagnon sacrifice fly.
“He was throwing me fastballs that were tailing outside and I went with them,” said Huckestein, who has a team-high six triples. “We’ve been practicing hard [on hitting]. We’ve been getting extra swings whenever we can.”
“He can hit,” said Central’s Speed who pitched well in defeat but was hurt by six walks and four errors behind him over his six innings.
Central got its final two runs in the seventh when Cory Sabine tripled and Matt St. Peter belted a two-run, inside the park homer to right where there isn’t a fence.
Freshman second baseman Cody Caruso had a pair of singles for Central.