OLD ORCHARD BEACH — A little pitching, a little defense, a little bit of (two out) timely hitting.

It all went a long, long way toward launching the Old Orchard Beach Raging Tide to a gritty, 4-2, win over the Laconia Muskrats, before 356 people at The Ballpark.

Marcus Way’s three RBIs, two of them coming on a shot over the right-field fence in the bottom of the sixth provided the winning margin.

Clutch mound work, particularly by starter Hunter Gordon during his 5.2 inning stint, kept Laconia hitters under wraps.

“I tried staying in the zone,” said Gordon, who is primarily a reliever at Boston College. “I had a few innings where I lost it.”

If so, he never lost it completely.

“You’ve just got to battle,” said Gordon. “If you make a bad pitch, look at the next pitch. You’ve still got to make your pitches, whether you’re behind in the count 3-0, or up 0-2.”

Gordon, who did not get the win, further helped the Tide cause by picking off one runner at second, and assisting on a crucial double play.

The Tide never trailed, having initially taken a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first off of Laconia starter England Smith.

Tim Quinn stroked a two-out single, then legged it in from first when new arrival Jimmy Roche slammed a triple into the center-field gap.

“I knew he could swing it,” said OOB manager Inaki Ormaechea, who picked Roche up from the Cape Cod League three games ago. “We needed a spark and a fresh bat. He’s worked out.”

Way followed and doubled in Roche.

Gordon worked in and out of trouble repeatedly during his outing, beginning in the first inning.

With one away, after walking one hitter, and hitting the next, Gordon wriggled off the hook by retiring the next two Muskrats.

“He battled today,” said Ormaechea. “He didn’t have great stuff, but he hung in there tough.”

Gordon exited in the sixth with two on and two out, but Laconia knotted the score, 2-2, when Chris Burke slugged a two-run double off reliever G.C. Yerry.

OOB’s response was swift.

With two out, after Roche worked a walk off Smith, Way clouted a first pitch fastball over the right-field wall, just inside the foul pole.

“He (Smith) had been trying to get that fastball in on me earlier in the game,” said Way, who will be a senior at Harvard when classes resume in the fall. “But I went up looking for that first pitch. Not let him beat me with that one. I got it. It worked out, well, I guess.”

The Tide bullpen, Yerry, Mike Hepple, and closer Oliver Van Zant, shut out Laconia over the final three innings to nail down the win.

NOTES: Patrolling right field for the Muskrats is Vanderbilt University sophomore (and Portland native) Regan Flaherty, who played last summer for the Sanford Mainers.

Flaherty, who was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in 2009, had hoped to play again for the Mainers or the first-year Raging Tide this summer.

But when those plans fell through, Flaherty hooked on in Laconia.

“It’s been a good fit,” said Flaherty, whose father Ed is the baseball coach at the University of Southern Maine. “I’m getting at bats, and getting reps (in the field). I’m playing close to home, so it’s worked out well. It’s a good league to play in.”

Flaherty, who red-shirted at Vanderbilt last year, was involved in one of the best plate battles of the night during his eighth inning at bat against Hepple.

After falling behind 0-2 on a pair of swinging strikes, Flaherty battled for eight more pitches before finally drawing a walk.

The Tide will take the field again tonight (6:15) against the North Shore Navigators in Lynn, Mass. Right hander Kevin McGowan (1-1, 5.65) will get the start.

— Contact Dan Hickling at dhickling@journaltribune.com or follow on Twitter @DanHickling.