The undefeated Bangor High School baseball team struck for five first-inning runs Monday and then rode errorless defense and the one-hit pitching of Wyatt Stevens and Jonah Baude to an 11-0, five-inning victory over host Hampden Academy at Bordick Park.
The defending Class A North champions have outscored their first three foes by a combined 24-3, and in each of its victories against Edward Little of Auburn, Lewiston and Hampden the Rams took an early lead and cruised to victory.
“We’re going to make our money on pitching and defense, teams will not score as much as they want against us and that’s been the case three games in,” Bangor senior shortstop Keegan Cyr said.
Pivotal players: Stevens and Baude, both junior varsity pitchers last spring, epitomized Bangor’s mound depth early this season. Stevens struck out six batters over the first four innings while yielding just a second-inning single to Hampden freshman Kaysen Wildman in the top of the second. Baude pitched a 1-2-3 fifth inning with two strikeouts.
Big takeaway: This game matched a Bangor team with 12 seniors on its 16-player roster against a Hampden Academy club with just four seniors among its 17 players, and the Rams put the offensive pressure on early as five of its first six batters came around to score before the Broncos ever stepped into the batter’s box.
Ben Caron had an RBI single during the first-inning uprising while Luke Missbrenner was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded — one of three times the senior first baseman was plunked during the game.
“The guys showed up at the field today and were just locked in,” Bangor coach Dave Morris said. “They did a really good job of coming prepared and jumping on them early.”
Braydon Caron paced Bangor’s eight-hit offense with two singles while Colton Trisch, Matt Holmes, Ryan Howard and Ben Caron each scored twice.
What’s next: Bangor returns to action at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at reigning Class B state champion Old Town, while 1-2 Hampden visits Hermon at 4:15 p.m. Thursday.