OLD TOWN, Maine — The Old Town High School baseball Class of 2017 already has experienced considerable success, including last spring’s Class B state championship.
There also has been another trip to the regional final and a third semifinal appearance, as well forming the nucleus for the Canoe City’s 2015 Senior League World Series team.
The most veteran of this year’s Coyotes celebrated their achievements so far — there is one more postseason opportunity looming, after all — on Wednesday by pounding out a 17-3, five-inning Senior Day victory over Class C Orono.
The win leaves Old Town with an 11-3 record good for second place in Class B North with regular-season road games remaining at John Bapst of Bangor next Wednesday and at Mount Desert Island the next day.
“It was a good bounce-back win,” Coyotes’ coach Brad Goody, whose club was coming off a 7-4 loss at third-ranked Hermon last Friday, said. “It’s hopefully a senior game these guys will remember.
“I think we’re in a position where it won’t be our last game on this field because we’ve definitely earned a home playoff game, but it was a good, fun day,” he said.
The loss was Orono’s fourth in its past five games, but the 8-6 Red Riots remain ranked fourth in Class C North despite enduring a challenging stretch that also has included losses to intraclass rivals Houlton, George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill and Bucksport, ranked first, second and fifth, respectively, in that division.
Orono is scheduled to visit Bucksport on Thursday for their second meeting in eight days.
Old Town got plenty of production from the bottom of its lineup while defeating the Red Riots for the second time this spring, with the 6-9 batters in the lineup combining to go 9-for-12 at the plate with 13 runs scored, 10 RBI and seven stolen bases.
Shortstop Ryan Hoogterp paced the Coyotes’ 13-hit attack with three singles, four runs scored, five stolen bases and three RBI, while right fielder Niko Knapp had three singles with three runs scored and four RBI. DH Dom D’Angelo chipped in with a single, a double, four runs scored and three RBI, and left fielder Nick Boutin singled, reached base three times, scored twice and drove home two runs.
Three Old Town pitchers — sophomore Brenden Gasaway and seniors Ethan Stoddard and Jake Ketch — limited Orono to one hit, a first-inning single by Red Riots’ starting pitcher Evan Kenefic.
The game was preceded not only by Senior Day recognition for the Coyotes’ baseball and softball teams but also a ceremony honoring the memory of Aaron Ricker, a member of the Old Town Class of 2017 who died on Jan. 23 at age 18 after a nearly seven-year battle with a rare childhood cancer, Ewing sarcoma.
Both Old Town teams wore T-shirts for the game with the phrase “I got a bone to pick with cancer” in recognition of Ricker, who was a member of the school’s swim team along with several of the players. Ricker’s family was on hand to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Orono jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Nate Desisto drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on Kenefic’s single and came around to score on an intentional walk to Jackson Coutts that loaded the bases with none out and a wild pitch.
But the rest of the afternoon belonged to Old Town, beginning when Gasaway struck out the next batter he faced, and then Kenefic was called out for leaving third base too early to end the threat after an apparent sacrifice fly to center by Kaleb Bouchard.
Old Town sent 13 batters to the plate in the bottom of the inning and scored seven unearned runs thanks to a combination of five hits — including two-run singles by D’Angelo and T.J. Crawford — and four Orono errors.
The Coyotes added four runs in the second inning, two more in the bottom of the third and four runs in the fourth inning to force an early ending under the 10-run rule.
