BANGOR, Maine — On a windy, cold, sometimes rainy afternoon that felt more like the beginning of the season in mid-April, the Bangor High School baseball team shook off a sluggish start to extend what is becoming a lengthy playoff winning streak.
The top-ranked Rams pounded out 13 hits and senior left-hander Trevor DeLaite used the aid of his defensive mates to retire the last 17 batters he faced as coach Jeff Fahey’s club pulled away from No. 9 Hampden Academy 8-2 in their Class A North quarterfinal Thursday at Mansfield Stadium.
The victory was the ninth straight during postseason play for the two-time defending state champs, 16-1 this spring. Bangor will host No. 4 Brewer — a 6-3 winner over No. 5 Lawrence of Fairfield — in Saturday’s semifinals.
Hampden (9-9) had its chances early against Bangor, scoring twice in the top of the second — one on an RBI triple by Broncos’ pitcher Alex McKenney — to forge a 2-2 tie and still having the bases loaded with one out after DeLaite issued his lone walk of the game to No. 9 hitter Ben Huston.
But DeLaite then induced Jackson Gilmore to ground an 0-2 pitch to Bangor third baseman Jesse Colford, who threw home to start an inning-ending 5-2-3 double play.
Hampden never had another baserunner.
“I knew when I walked [Huston] it was a good thing because it set up the double play,” said DeLaite, the Gatorade Maine Player of the Year. “I just tried to make them hit the ball and make them beat me that way, and fortunately Jesse made a good play there and got the double play.”
DeLaite, who threw 37 pitches in the first two innings, required just 48 more pitches over the final five innings to improve to 7-1.
“He just turned it on halfway through the game and did a really good job of finishing it off,” said Bangor catcher Derek Fournier, who also paced the Rams’ offense with three hits and three RBIs.
The University of Maine-bound DeLaite finished with seven strikeouts, and while Bangor committed three errors against Hampden’s first six batters of the game, the Rams got big defensive plays from Colford, shortstop Kyle Stevenson and first baseman Nick Cowperthwaite as well as a nice running catch by right fielder Peter Kemble during the later innings.
“I got behind in the counts early, so I had to throw my fastball, and [Hampden] knew that,” said DeLaite. “I missed middle a couple of times, and there were a couple of bad bounces, but my defense played great behind me, and that allowed me to go right at them.”
Fournier gave Bangor a 4-2 lead with a two-run double to left-center in the bottom of the second.
Cowperthwaite opened the Rams’ third by beating out an infield chopper to third base. He was sacrificed to second by Gary Farnham — who also reached on the play via error — and moved to third on a bunt single by George Payne before scoring on a fielder’s choice grounder to short by Ryan Brookings to make it 5-2.
DeLaite drilled a leadoff triple to deep center to open the Bangor fourth, the first of four consecutive hits by the Rams. Fournier followed with an RBI single to right, and singles by Colford and Kemble followed before Cowperthwaite drew a bases-loaded walk and Payne followed one out later with an RBI fielder’s choice grounder to give DeLaite a six-run cushion.
DeLaite and Brookings each added two hits to a Bangor attack in which all 10 batters who stepped to the plate had at least one hit or one RBI.
“We just swung the bats well,” said Fahey. “We have been for a while. I think our approach was to just be aggressive at the plate, and if he throws a strike, swing at it, and we did that.”
