Cumberland County blues

SACO — It was there again for the taking for the Thornton Academy baseball team.

Another lead over a top Cumberland County opponent. Another six outs from getting the big victory its been looking for in this young season.

Another lost opportunity.

The Golden Trojans, owners of a 3-1 lead heading into the sixth inning, allowed five runs in the inning as Cheverus continued its undefeated season by defeating Thornton 6-3 on Wednesday afternoon.

Cheverus shortstop Louis DiStasio hit a two-run single, and Nick Melville added a sacrifice bunt to give the Stags a 4-3 lead. Then, in a moment of heads-up baserunning, Stags first baseman Harry Ridge tagged up on a fly ball caught in foul territory by Trojans catcher Zach Sheehan. With no coverage at the plate until the last second, Ridge tagged up from third and scored on a slide. One more run would be added to give Cheverus the 6-3 lead.

Thornton freshman Jeff Gelinas had another successful outing for the Trojans, striking out four, while allowing one run (three earned runs total) in five innings of work. Gelinas also showed the ability to get himself out of jams. With one out in the fifth inning, Gelinas gave up a walk and two singles, leaving the bases loaded. With his back against the wall, Gelinas struck out Nic Lops before Jack Bushey hit a fly ball to center field to end the inning without allowing a run.

Gelinas ran into early trouble early in the sixth, forcing Thornton head coach Greg Paradis to switch to reliever Dillon Dunbar.

Paradis said the fifth and sixth innings are tough on pitchers coming right off the bench.

“The fifth and sixth innings are transition innings,” Paradis said. “You go from a starter to a guy who hasn’t gone through the lineup, you put him in a situation with runners on base and it’s not an easy situation. We thought about when to take Jeff [Gelinas] out. If he would he had gotten that first guy out, had somewhat of a quick inning, we probably would have taken him out after six, but that didn’t happen. We had to put someone else in. But I thought [Matt] Turnage and Max O’Neil did a solid job and keeping it within reach.”

Turnage stopped the bleeding by closing out the sixth, while O’Neil pitched a scoreless seventh for the Trojans.

The Trojans had bright spots offensively. Shortstop Sam Canales went 2 for 3 with two RBIs. Third baseman Ryan Leach went 2 for 4 at the plate and designated hitter Jon Dupee collected an RBI on a single in the fourth.

The loss is in no way crushing to the Trojans, who entered the game as the top team in Western Maine Class A baseball in the Maine Principal Association Heal Point standings. While the Stags passed by the Trojans for the top spot, Thornton, now with a 3-2 record, moved to second place in the standings as of Wednesday night.

“It’s only the fifth game of the year,” Paradis said. “I think every game that we’re going to have is going to be this tight. it doesn’t matter who we play. Offensively we’ve had a couple of big games. I just hope we don’t revert back to where we were in the first game or the last two games of preseason. Your offense comes in spurts and we had them against the ropes for a few innings, but it is what it is.”

The Trojans will have another chance to prove itself against top Cumberland County competition on Saturday against Deering at Hadlock Field in Portland. However, Paradis is more concerned with Sanford, who Thornton plays against today at 4 p.m., before focusing on Deering.

“We’ve always had tough games against Sanford,” Paradis said. “I’m not even thinking about Saturday, to tell you the truth. I’m thinking about tomorrow and hopefully we can get these guys ready to play right off the bat. I think after a loss like this, you don’t want to have a day of practice, you want to go right back on and redeem yourself a little bit and hopefully take that mindset into tomorrow.”