BANGOR, Maine — The Bangor High School baseball team secured its first victory of the season earlier this week despite mustering just two hits.
It took the Rams just two batters to equal that output Friday afternoon en route to a 14-3 victory over Brewer at Husson University’s Winkin Complex.
“At times we really hit the ball hard today,” Bangor coach Jeff Fahey said of his team’s 10-hit attack. “We had some great at-bats and some that were not so great, but we moved runners along and did enough to put some pressure on those guys.”
Andrew Hillier and Jordan Derrah paced the defending Class A state champions with three hits each.
Hillier also allowed just one earned run on three hits while pitching the first five innings before relievers Nick Cowperthwaite and James Prescott each worked a 1-2-3 inning of relief.
Hillier, who was 5-0 for the Rams last spring, amassed six strikeouts, two walks and a hit batter while throwing 75 pitches, 49 for strikes.
“I thought I pitched pretty well, other than one little blunder,” Hillier said, referring to a solo homer by Brewer’s Matt Pushard in the first inning, the Witches’ lone earned run of the contest. “But I’ll take the win over a home run any day.”
The senior captain also contributed a two-run triple, a two-run single and an RBI single in his final three at-bats to go with a first-inning walk and run scored.
Similar to Hillier, Derrah reached base in four of his five plate appearances with three singles, two RBIs and three runs scored.
“Our bats usually come around,” Derrah, a senior outfielder, said. “It may take a little time for them to come around, but they’re pretty solid once they do.”
The game was Brewer’s home contest but was moved to the artificial turf at Husson to ensure good early season field conditions for the rivalry contest.
Bangor (2-0) came out in an aggressive offensive posture against Brewer right-hander Evan Riva to forge a 4-0 lead in the top of the first.
Derrah hit a leadoff single to left-center and advanced, when Trevor DeLaite singled sharply just under the glove of Brewer shortstop Kobe Rogerson. A walk to Hillier loaded the bases before cleanup batter Ben Crichton rapped a two-run double to left-center that bounced high off the turf over the head of Brewer left fielder Jacob Currier.
Derek Fournier followed with a one-out single to center that drove home Hillier and Crichton to give Hillier a four-run cushion before he threw his first pitch.
Pushard got one of those runs back for Brewer with two out in the bottom of the inning, blasting a mammoth home run off the roof of one of the housing units well beyond the left-field fence.
Riva retired nine straight Bangor batters after Fournier’s hit and Brewer (0-1) scored two unearned runs in the bottom of the third to pull within 4-3.
Tyler Williams drew a leadoff walk and Greg Warmuth followed with a one-out single to left. Hillier retired the next batter he faced, but an errant throw on Pushard’s grounder to shortstop allowed both Williams and Warmuth to score and make it a one-run game.
Bangor answered immediately, with Hillier’s two-out, two-run single keying a three-run rally that extended the Rams’ lead to 7-3 through 3½ innings. Two hit batsmen, an infield error and four stolen bases preceded Hillier’s hit to left field on a 3-1 pitch.
Hillier added another two-out RBI in the Bangor sixth and the Rams then scored six insurance runs in the seventh, two on a bases-loaded, ground single up the middle by Derrah and two more on Hillier’s triple through the right-field gap.
