ORONO — Pitching dominated the 19th annual Larry Mahaney East-West Senior Classic baseball game played at the University of Maine on Friday night.
And the West had the slightest of edges in that matchup en route to a 4-3 victory in a game featuring the top recently graduated high school players in the state.
Eight West pitchers, beginning with starter Ryan Leach of Hall-Dale of Hallowell and capped off by Adam Gould of Portland, scattered just five singles over nine innings.
“I was expecting more scoring,” said Leach, a Mr. Baseball finalist who struck out the side in the bottom of the second to highlight his scoreless two-inning stint. “I figured it would be an 8-6 game, something like that, but all the pitchers did a good job.”
The West managed just six hits off East pitching, but an RBI double and a run-producing groundout by Conor Maloney of Cape Elizabeth and run-scoring singles by Leach and Will Pierce of Cape Elizabeth provided just enough offense to secure the victory.
The East jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third thanks to the speed of Penobscot Valley Conference player of the year Brad Folmer, a shortstop from Ellsworth.
Folmer led off the inning by reaching on an infield error, then stole second base and went to third on a wild pitch by Yarmouth’s Nick Whittaker. Folmer then beat the throw home from first after Cony of Augusta’s Jake LaChance grounded out on a comebacker to the mound.
The West countered with two runs in the top of the fourth. Gould walked, stole second and scored on a single up the middle by Leach. Leach advanced to second on a walk to Brett Turcotte of Oak Hill of Sabattus and scored on a single to center by Pierce.
The West made it 3-1 an inning later. Falmouth’s Mitch Beaulieu drew a leadoff walk, went to third on two wild pitches and scored on a groundout to second base by Maloney.
Cody Hadley of Class A state champion Oxford Hills of South Paris hit a two-out single in the bottom of the sixth to drive home Jason Burns of Cony and rally the East to within 3-2. Burns had walked and went to second on an infield groundout by Mat Gordon of Edward Little of Auburn.
Taylor Valente of Gray-New Gloucester opened the West’s eighth inning with a sharp single to center and quickly scored a valuable insurance run to make it 4-2 when Maloney had the game’s lone extra- base hit, a double to the gap in right-center.
The East scored its final run in the ninth when Folmer drew a leadoff walk, stole second and scored on a two-out single by Brennen Shaw of Presque Isle before Gould struck out the next batter — his second strikeout of the inning — to earn the save.
West 000 210 010 — 4 6 2
East 001 001 001 — 3 5 0
Leach, Whittaker (3), Maloney (4), Bryant (5), Lafleur (6), Valente (7), Pierce (8), Gould (9) and Mello, Bolduc (4) and Murphy (7); Chadwick, Nason (3), Shaw (4), McEwen (5), Beland (7), McBurnie (8), Minoty (9) and Verrier, Burns (5) and Wetherbee (8)
