STANDISH, Maine — The 18th annual Larry Mahaney Senior All-Star Classic was supposed to be a showcase of the top senior high school baseball players in the state.
For this year, at least, it was merely a rout, as seven East pitchers combined to throw a three-hitter to lead their team to an 18-1 victory over the West at Mahaney Diamond on the campus of Saint Joseph’s College in a game that was halted after eight innings.
That pitching was complemented by errorless defense and an 18-hit attack featuring two hits and three RBIs each from Nick Grady of Erskine Academy and Anthony Farrell of Mount Ararat of Topsham — both out of the No. 9 slot in the batting order.
“The last two years I’d played against them [in underclass all-star games] and they had been close, so that’s what we expected,” said East outfielder Pat Thibodeau of Caribou. “We just came out and played hard-nosed baseball, but I think we were surprised we were able to put 18 runs on the board.”
Part of the East’s dominance stemmed from the fact that five players from Class A state champion Deering of Portland — Regan Flaherty, Jack Heary, Taylor Candage, Luke Hammond and Matt Powers — were not available to the West squad as they were in New Hampshire competing in an American Legion tournament.
“We knew that would hurt them,” said Thibodeau, “but we just had to go out there and play with the same mind-set, keep playing the game the way we usually do.”
Farrell was named the game’s most valuable player, retiring all three batters he faced during one scoreless inning on the mound to go with a double and a single at the plate — both hits coming in the sixth inning.
Farrell, starter Matt Stuart of Messalonskee of Oakland Cody Goddard of Edward Little, Cody Vigue of Skowhegan and Peter Dickinson of George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill combined to retire 14 West batters in a row between the second and sixth innings, and the East offense did the rest.
The East took a 3-0 lead in the top of the second. Brunswick’s Matt Liscovitz hit a leadoff single and stole second before Hampden Academy’s Shawn Smith walked.
Liscovitz advanced to third while Skowhegan’s John Little reached on a fielder’s choice grounder that forced Smith out at second.
After Chris Gorham of South Portland struck out Stuart for the second out, Grady flared a single to right that drove home Liscovitz with the first run of the game, and Little also scored on the play thanks to an errant throw from the outfield.
Grady went to second on the play, took third base as John Bapst of Bangor’s Casey Hull reached on an infield error and scored when those two base runners executed a successful double steal.
The East then exploded for seven runs on six hits in the fourth to extend its lead to 10-0. Grady hit a two-run double to highlight the rally, coming just after back-to-back doubles by Little and Goddard.
Alex Wheelock of Gardiner also hit a two-runduring the uprising, while Liscovitz and Scott Rogers of Mount Ararat of Topsham each singled home a run.
Farrell hit a two-run double down the left-field line and an RBI bloop single to left to highlight an eight-run East rally in the sixth — an inning that included five walks, three hit batsmen and three hits.
The West avoided the shutout when Scarborough’s Chris Bernard — named the state’s 2009 Mr. Baseball earlier in the evening — tripled to center to lead off the bottom of the seventh and scored on a sacrifice fly by Christian Hamilton of Westbrook.
East 030 708 00 — 18 18 0
West 000 000 10 — 1 3 4
Stuart, Goddard (3), Vigue (4), Farrell (5), Dickinson (6), Kelley (7), Lee (8) and Wheelock, Chaput (5); Bernard, Gorham (2), DiStasio (4), Stauber (5), Guay (6), Humphrey (6), Boyington (8) and Conant, Watson (6)
