ORONO, Maine — The Orono High School baseball team has its share of star power in senior Jackson Coutts, the University of Rhode Island-bound pitcher-infielder.
His talents certainly were on display during the Red Riots’ Senior Day game Wednesday as the hard-throwing right-hander tossed a six-hitter while also driving home three runs — two on a tremendous home run to right field in the bottom of the fifth inning.
But the key to Orono’s bid to find success in the upcoming Class C North playoffs ultimately may depend on the depth of the team’s production. That, too, was in evidence as the Red Riots sent nine batters to the plate in the bottom of the sixth and scored three runs to pull away to a 7-4 victory over Central of Corinth.
Orono (10-6) combined three hits, three walks — one an intentional pass to Coutts with the bases loaded just after the Red Riots had taken a one-run lead on Evan Kenefic’s RBI infield hit — and a sacrifice bunt during the uprising that snapped a 4-4 tie.
“In baseball you need all nine to contribute in some form and that’s what we did today,” said Orono senior center fielder Nate Desisto, who contributed a bases-loaded walk of the non-intentional variety to the game-winning rally. “Whether it was sacrifice bunts or drawing walks, and we limited the errors on a wet field.”
The regular-season ending victory assured coach Don Joseph’s club of a first-round playoff bye — status accorded to the top five teams in C North — and the Red Riots won’t have to make their postseason debut until the regional quarterfinals on June 8.
Central (6-9) remains ranked sixth in the division with a game remaining at home Friday against top-ranked and defending C North champion George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill, but the Red Devils look no worse than a candidate to host a prelim next Tuesday.
Coutts struck out seven and walked two while yielding just one earned run during his complete-game effort amid game conditions that began with steady mist and improved to mere dampness.
“I didn’t feel great for whatever reason, but I still had to battle it out,” he said.
Central right-hander Nolan DeMoranville also had a solid pitching start, yielding just two runs through the first four innings before the Red Devils took a 4-2 lead with two runs in the top of the fifth with a rally featuring Gage Poulin’s double and an RBI single by Ethan Mailman.
Then Coutts, whose third-inning at-bat was a nearly 400-foot out to deep center field, followed a one-out walk to Kenefic in the bottom of the fifth by blasting a 2-1 fastball well over the fence in right to tie the game and regain the momentum for Orono.
“It’s probably one of the best feelings I’ve had hitting a ball,” he said.
Orono then reached Poulin for its sixth-inning runs, all after two outs.
Connor McCluskey hit a leadoff single and moved to second on Kohle Parker’s one-out sacrifice. A walk to Noah White and an infield hit toward second base by Zach Pinto loaded the bases before Kenefic beat out a 35-foot chopper down the third-base line to drive home McCluskey with the go-ahead run and leave the bases loaded.
After seeing Coutts’ previous two at-bats produce nearly 800 feet of fly balls, Central opted to walk the Orono standout intentionally and concede one run rather than risk yielding as many as four with a single swing of the bat.
Desisto’s four-pitch non-intentional pass delivered the game’s final run.
Seven different batters contributed to Orono’s nine-hit attack, with Kenefic and Desisto each singling twice and Desisto adding two RBI.
“It’s always good to see everybody get a hit or get on base and contribute like that,” said Coutts. “It builds up everybody’s confidence and helps us win.”
Desisto also had the game’s top defensive play in the top of the third, gunning down Central’s Michael Kelley as he tried to score from second base on a single by Andrew Speed. Desisto’s throw from medium center field reached catcher McCluskey at the plate in the air.
“I kind of slowly came up to the ball because I knew it could skip through and I didn’t want it to get by me,” said Desisto. “I think I played it slow enough that he wanted to go but I knew I had enough time where I could just throw it on a line.”
