Bangor baseball scored half a dozen runs in both the first and third innings to kick start its 15-6 victory over Old Town on Thursday evening.
Bangor’s Yates Emerson drew a walk to lead off the bottom half of the first inning, followed by a single from Jack Shuck. Schuck stole second base, and on a later throw to second, Schuck scored on a steal home to give Bangor (2-1) its first run of the game.
The next batter was Matt Holmes, who doubled down the left field line to drive in another run.
“I know they were throwing a little slower than usual and I just wanted to get it deep like coach says and get the ball in play,” Holmes said.
Holmes finished a home run shy of the cycle at Mansfield Stadium on Thursday, hitting a triple to the base of the right field fence in the sixth. He also drove in three total runners.
Geo Socolow singled after Holmes’ double and stole second, allowing Holmes to steal home and make it 3-0.
Socolow later scored on a passed ball, and with the bases loaded Jack Earl drove in a run after being hit by a pitch, followed by an RBI groundout by Kyle Johnson that gave the Rams a 6-0 lead after the first inning.
On the mound, Bangor’s Wyatt Stevens felt even more confident after his offense’s early big innings.
“It makes you feel really good,” Stevens said. “The only thing that sucks about it is it’s long, so you get stagnant in the dugout and don’t really move for a while. You can’t ever get mad at 13 runs in three innings. I’ll take that any day of the week.”
Schuck scored the lone run in the second inning after drawing a walk and getting hit home by a sacrifice fly from Stevens to make it 7-0.
In the third inning, Johnson reached on a one-out single, followed by a walk by Ted Stephenson. Gavin Glanville-True hit an RBI single into right field.
Emerson reached on a walk to load the bases, followed by a wild pitch that scored Stephenson.
Holmes drove in two runs on a single to left, then two batters later Stevens drove in Holmes with a single to right. Bangor scored two more runs in the third to give the Rams a 13-0 lead.
“It’s a lot of momentum,” Stevens said of Bangor’s early offensive explosion. “Once one guy gets on it makes other guys want to get on and it gets us going.”
Old Town (2-1) scored all six of its runs in the fourth inning.
Brendan Mahaney led off the fourth with a single, reached third on a single from Alex McCannell and then scored on a double steal. James Dumond reached on an infield single, followed by six more singles in a row by Coyotes players. Old Town batted around in the fourth and made it 13-6 after four innings.
Dumond led Old Town with two hits.
Old Town started gaining confidence at the plate, but Stevens stopped the bleeding after the fourth. Stevens threw 113 pitches and finished 6 ⅔ innings.
“I never get in my head because I know it’s an up and down sport,” Stevens said. “I try to stay within myself, do what I can do, get ground balls and outs and get through it.”
Bangor coach David Morris was happy with how Stevens battled on the mound.
“I think Wyatt is always consistent and he’s got a consistent demeanor,” Morris said. “We have to give credit to Old Town, they hit him. He had a great performance, he didn’t want to throw as many as he did but that’s the game. I’m really pleased with him because he didn’t get frustrated. When we needed him to come through, he came through and he bared down.”
Socolow and Stevens both scored in the fifth inning to make it 15-6.