Colton Trisch flirted with pitching a no-hitter as Bangor opened its baseball season with a 7-2 victory over Edward Little of Auburn at Mansfield Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
Coach Dave Morris’ club had six of its eight hits in the contest while building a 6-0 lead through three innings against hard-throwing Edward Little sophomore right-hander Drew Smith.
That was more than enough offensive support for Trisch, as the senior left-hander didn’t allow a hit until Aiden Gonzalez flared an opposite-field single just onto the outfield grass in left field to open the top of the sixth inning.
Pivotal player: Trisch, who is expected to anchor Bangor’s pitching staff this spring before heading to George Washington University in the fall on a partial baseball scholarship, concluded a 91-pitch effort in his season’s debut yielding just the one hit while striking out five batters and walking five before giving way to classmate Wyatt Stevens, who allowed one hit over two innings of relief.
Trisch also had a pronounced impact at the plate, as Bangor’s leadoff hitter went 3-for-3 with two runs scored and three RBIs, including a two-run double to the right-center field gap to cap off a three-run uprising in the bottom of the third.
Senior left-fielder Matt Holmes added a triple and an RBI triple for Bangor, while Max Clark had an RBI single and Ben Caron drew a bases-loaded walk.
Big takeaway: Bangor complemented its pitching and offense with errorless defense anchored by first baseman Luke Missbrenner, who made a diving catch of a line drive by Edward Little’s Gavin Levesque and snared a sharp, short-hopping grounder by Pat Anthoine, both in the fifth inning, to keep Trisch’s no-hitter alive.
The win got Bangor off to a quick start in what should be a competitive Class A North race this spring against an Edward Little team that should be one of the Rams’ primary challengers for regional supremacy.
What’s next: Bangor will play its second straight home game to open the regular season at 11 a.m. Friday against Lewiston, then face its first road contest of the spring at Hampden Academy. Edward Little will play its home opener against Brewer at 2 p.m. Friday.
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the final score of the game. It was 7-2.