Jake Guty pitched a complete-game four-hitter and Bucksport used a four-run rally in the top of the sixth inning to rally past No. 2 Orono 4-3 in a battle of the top two teams in Class C North baseball on Monday afternoon.
The win moves top-ranked Bucksport to 7-1 on the season while No. 2 Orono dips to 4-3, with two of the losses coming to the Golden Bucks.
Guty used a dominant fastball as the foundation for an assortment of pitches that left Orono’s batters guessing for much of the contest, with the senior righthander striking out 11 batters while walking three during a 103-pitch performance.
Yet the defending state champion Red Riots capitalized on two leadoff walks and RBI singles by Jack Brewer – on a bunt – and Ellis Spaulding to score single runs in the third and fifth innings for a 2-0 lead.
“I was definitely getting a little nervous,” said Guty, now 3-0 this spring.
Pivotal point: Orono righthander Adam Sherman stranded nine Bucksport baserunners through the first five innings before coach Josh Jackson’s club finally broke through by sending nine batters to the plate in the top of the sixth.
Bucksport managed just two hits during the rally that included three Orono errors – with all three runners reaching base via those mistakes eventually crossing home plate.
No. 9 hitter Kaleb Nightingale tied the game after Bucksport’s first two runners in the inning reached base on errors by lining an 0-2 pitch to left field for a two-run single to plate Ayden Maguire and Jason Terrill.
“The back of our lineup is not something we stress about a lot,” Jackson said. “They battle, they put the ball in play and they’re not afraid of small ball. They get on and they take advantage of the little things, and our nine hitter Kaleb came up big with the big hit.”
One out after Tyler Hallett reached first via throwing error on a sacrifice bunt that enabled Nightingale to advance to third, Guty drilled his third single of the day, a two-run line drive to right-center that gave Bucksport the lead for good.
“I was just trying to put the play with one out, anything to get a run in, and I hit the ball to the right side and got two runs in,” he said.
Orono threatened again in the bottom of the seventh with a walk to Noah Schaff, a single to right by Brewer and an RBI-comebacker to the mound by Sal Wise rallying the Red Riots within a run with one out before Guty retired the next two batters to end the game.
Big takeaway: Bucksport’s pitching depth, led by Guty and fellow senior Ty Giberson, should make the Golden Bucks one of the teams to beat in Class C North, but Guty’s contributions to the team are as much at the plate as they are on the mound.
He entered Monday’s matchup with a .538 batting average and added a 3-for-4 afternoon with two RBIs and four stolen bases in as many attempts – bringing his season total to 12 steals in 12 tries for a team that now has yet to be caught stealing in 39 attempts.
