Every member of the Edward Little High School baseball team scored at least one run as the Red Eddies dismantled Bangor High School 10-6 in the Class A North regional championship game at Morton Field in Augusta on Wednesday.
Four Rams players were hitless in the defeat.
Bangor’s resilience was tested early on as the Rams went down by one after the top of the first inning, and then two after the top of the second. Matt Holmes drove in a run with an RBI single in the first, while Ted Stephenson’s 2 RBI double in the second tied the game at three runs apiece.
“Our guys have nothing to be ashamed about, this was a hard-fought game,” Bangor head coach David Morris said.
Bangor ends its season 10-9.
While the Eddies jumped out of the gates firing, plating seven total runs in the first four innings, the Rams refused to go away. In the bottom of the fourth inning, right-fielder Geo Socolow sent a high-arcing shot to deep right field that just barely made it over the wall for a three-run homerun and closed the gap to just one.
The Rams’ momentum swing was short-lived, as Edward Little sent four more runs across the plate in the fifth inning due to sloppy defense, and coasted to the finish for a 10-6 victory.
Edward Little pitchers Drew Smith and Campbell Cassidy dominated the mound, combining for 11 strikeouts and becoming integral in keeping Bangor out of the game.
Cassidy worked out of two major jams for the Eddies, as Bangor loaded the bases in the fifth and put runners on first and second in the seventh.
On the other side of the rubber, Bangor’s Matt Holmes struggled early on, leaving the game after 3 ⅓ innings and being responsible for six runs. In relief, Kyle Johnson and Harrison Tapley gave up the remaining four runs to Edward Little. Johnson surrendered two runs in only ⅔ innings of work.
“I’m just proud of our guys and the way they fought,” Morris said. “We’re disappointed obviously because we have high expectations of winning this, but we’ve gotta give credit to EL. They beat us.”
Reaching the regional final was a feat in its own for both teams, as Bangor and Edward Little were seeded seventh and eighth, respectively.
Edward Little (12-7) now advances to play in the State Championship game this Saturday against the winner of Thornton Academy and South Portland’s contest.
