GORHAM – It took two tries Tuesday afternoon, but Seacoast Law and Title – the official name of the Westbrook Junior Legion baseball team – finally closed the door on the pesky Windham Merchants with a 6-4 victory in a deciding third game in the state finals at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham.
On the way to the title, Westbrook had to beat back multiple threats of disaster. Seacoast Law and Title had no answer for Windham ace Cody Dube, who pitched a complete game gem in earlier contest, then came on for two more innings of solid relief in the second. Nor was an early 6-0 lead in the second game as safe as it initially looked – a four-run rally by the Merchants against postseason MVP pitcher Zack Bean saw the Westbrook starter chased prematurely from what should have been his victory lap performance.
Finally, a play at the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning nearly cleared the benches, resulting in Westbrook catcher Kyle Heath being ejected, and almost certainly handed momentum to Windham – that is until Westbrook reliever Michael Rioux neatly slammed the door on the Merchants in the seventh. All in all, it made for a rather tricky escape act, but in the end Seacoast Law and Title emerged the victor, ready to represent Maine in the Junior Legion Regional held in New Bedford, Mass. on Aug 12-14.
“I am excited,” said Seacoast Law and Title Head Coach Andrew Coulombe. “A lot of these guys were on the team last year and we wound up being the runners-up – we got beat by Lewiston. This time, the focus all year was to get back here and to take care of business. So I am excited, and the team is excited, and we look forward to hopefully doing Maine proud.”
Both teams shook off some early jitters before settling into a pitcher’s duel in the first game. Westbrook took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first after Kaleb Kent led off with a triple, then came home on a single by Collin Joyce. But the Merchants replied in kind in the bottom half of the inning, as Seacoast Law and Title starter Aaron Duncanson loaded the bases, then hit right fielder Joe Francoeur to walk in the tying run.
After that, Dube was magnificent, striking out seven, and allowing just a single baserunner past second. Duncanson never fully cleaned out the cobwebs, though, and had to work out of a bases-loaded jam in the third, as well as men on second and third in the fourth with just one out.
“(Dube) was lights out both games,” said Windham first baseman Robbie Hamilton. “He brought his A-game, and he came here to play. We all wanted revenge on these guys, and even if his arm did hurt him, the adrenaline took over and that point and he just gave it everything he had. It was his best performance.”
Westbrook’s Cale Bollig entered the game in relief in the fifth, and in the next inning Windham got to him, as Bollig managed to get two outs, but also walked two men to start the sixth. With runners on first and second, Hamilton took a 1-0 pitch and launched it into the gap in right-center, clearing the bases to make it 3-1 Merchants.
“That was a fast ball right down the middle,” Hamilton said. “I just saw what I was looking for. I knew what it was as soon as I hit it – I didn’t even look at it. I just took off running.”
A two-run advantage was more than Dube needed, as he shrugged off a triple by Andrew McCarthy in the seventh to close out the victory.
The second game was a polar-opposite of the first, with big time scoring and struggles on the mound for both teams. Windham starter Jack Herzig had control issues right out of the gate, and walked four men over just one and one-third innings. Back-to-back wild pitches advanced the runners twice in the first and made it 1-0, and a bad throw to the plate by second baseman Ryan Whiting on a fake pickoff upped that to 2-0.
Herzig again walked two men in the second before giving up a one-out single to Kent that dropped into right field and made it 3-0. Herzig was pulled in favor of Nate Boyle, but was still responsible for a 4-0 deficit after Heath hit a sacrifice fly into left.
“Jack has been our No. 4 starter all year, and we were confident with him going into the game, and I am still sure I made the right move starting with him,” said Windham Head Coach Brody Artes. “But when you ask a catcher to get out of position and go out and pitch, and use those muscles in a different way to throw the ball to home as opposed to from home, I think he just got real tired.”
Boyle fared little better, giving up a single and a double to begin the third, and then hung a changeup right over the plate for Westbrook’s Cody Champagne to belt into left to make it 6-0. Meanwhile, Bean plugged along on the hill, going four scoreless. It might have been five, but with two outs and a man on first, he couldn’t get the call on what looked to be a strike-three pitch to Boyle.
“I thought it was right down the middle – maybe a bit low,” Bean said. “I had my fastball working a little bit, and my curve ball was going good. I had a little trouble with my change up – leaving it up a bit – but other than that the fastball and curve ball were what I relied on.”
Windham took advantage, as Poulin tripled to the wall in right on the next pitch, and came home when Herzig singled, cutting the lead to 6-3. Windham made it 6-4 in the sixth after Francouer slid into first, distracting Westbrook as Whiting rounded third to come home.
With the Merchants now threatening to close the gap, Seacoast Law and Title got a little daring in the sixth. Westbrook put men on first and second before Derek Bouchard grounded to third base. Heath, standing on third, waited until the play went to first, then took off for home. Hamilton’s throw beat Heath to the dish and the Westbrook shortstop left his feet, going high as he slammed into Herzig, who collapsed. Herzig dropped the ball, but Heath was called out on the play, then immediately ejected. Coaches one both sides had to intervene to restrain their benches before play could resume.
“Nothing major,” Artes said. “It was a pretty flagrant play. It is hard to come close to the end of the game and have that play; to have that go down, and it’s too bad that that happened to sort of end it for us. But Jack’s a tough kid and he’s okay, and we’ll just all learn from that.”
The play threatened to give Windham the energy they needed in the top of the seventh, but the Merchants couldn’t figure out Rioux. The Westbrook reliever went 1-2-3 before being mobbed by his teammates.
“We could have hung our heads and said ‘you know what, that’s going to be it’ but we didn’t do that,” Coulombe said. “Jumping out early – that was huge.”
“I think we have a good team,” Bean said, just after he was announced as MVP of the tournament. “I think we can go down (to New Bedford) and do a bit of damage. It feels good to know that we’re the only team going down there to represent Maine in the regionals.”
Seacoast Law and Title’s bench runs on the field to mob reliever
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