Biddeford 4

Bonny Eagle 1

They say good pitching will always beat good hitting. Last Thursday in Biddeford, Zach Lauzon pitched a three hitter in the regional quarterfinals against Bonny Eagle. The Tigers scored four runs in the first inning to earn a 4-1 victory.

“Lauzon did pitch well,” said battery mate Tony Dube. “He usually does. You know what you’re going to get out of him; he’s going to pump strikes. Today he was on top of his game. The team got him some run support, and he did what he needed to do.”

After Lauzon pitched around a Lincoln Sanborn double in the top of the first, the Tigers went to work in the bottom of the inning. Nick Reny worked a one-out walk to get things started. Tyler Fleurent was hit by a pitch as was Andrew Allaire. That loaded the bases with one out for Ben Blais. Blais fouled of several pitches before sending one down the line in right field for a two-run single.

“Ben is a kid who has consistently hit a few foul balls this year,” said Biddeford coach Casey Roy. “Early in the count, he gets a lot of foul balls. It seems like he tries to hit the ball the other way with his inside out swing. What he is doing is battling again and again until he gets a pitch he can hit and he puts it in play. That’s what he did with two strikes. He got a big hit for us and got the ball rolling today.”

Nate Curran was the next batter and he singled to drive in Allaire. Curran was picked off first with Blais standing on third and Josh Scott at the plate. Scott singled in his at bat to plate Blais and give Biddeford a 4-0 lead.

The Scots threatened in the top of the second when Joe Davis was hit by a pitch leading off the inning. Davis eventually stole second. After Lauzon retired two straight batters, he walked Ryan Nason and the Scots had two runners on. But Lauzon got Josh Ruby to strike out and end the inning.

“Had they chipped in a run right there obviously a two-run game coming down the stretch something can happen, it puts pressure on the fielders,” Roy said. “So obviously keeping the guy on third, and the inning before keeping a guy on second, and not letting them advance is huge.”

The Tigers kept the pressure on with baserunners in nearly every inning. They were just unable to get any more runs across.

“We put the ball in play pretty much every time,” Roy said. “We had some nice ground balls and line drives and made them field the ball. We never got guys around to score, but we kept pressure on them. Every inning we had guys on base. We had some decent innings when we came to the plate.”

The Scots got their lone run in the top of the third. Sanborn walked on four pitches to give Bonny Eagle a runner with one out. After Ricky Hoyt popped out, Casey McKague came up. McKague blasted a 2-2 pitch to deep right center to score Sanborn from first.

“When you have a pitcher like (Lauzon), he’s one of the top players in the league,” said Bonny Eagle head coach Marc Sawyer. “I told my guys in the first inning ‘we’re going to have to beat him, he’s not coming out of the game, and we just have to try to get to him.'”

The Scots were never able to get to Lauzon. He was seemingly a step ahead of them all day. Dube said it was one of Lauzon’s better days.

“It was probably one of his best performances,” Dube said. “He had good control of the inside and outside of the plate. He had good control of his off speed stuff. We developed a couple of trick signs to get batters thinking and everything went well today and he threw really well.”

The Tigers went on to play against top-seeded Deering in Saturday’s semifinal round. The Rams were in control from the outset and won the game 11-1 in five innings. Deering scored four runs in the first and second innings and just pulled away from there.

For the Scots it was a successful season despite the way it ended. The team made the playoffs for the first time since 2003. Sawyer says he is looking forward to the future of the program.

“Those seniors are just tremendous human beings,” Sawyer said. “They have had three coaches in four years. They have been through a lot. This season is dedicated to them. The beauty of it is I started seven underclassmen today. I have the benefit of a future. We have some younger kids who are looking to compete. We have a bright future, but I’m sad to see the seniors go. I’m real proud of the kids. We set a goal of winning five games and we doubled it and won 10. We won’t sneak up on anybody next year.”