BASEBALL

Windham 0

Scarborough 7

At the beginning of the season, Windham Eagle’s Coach Mike Fullerton would not make any predictions about how his team would do record wise. Instead, all he could guarantee was that his team would show up and compete on a daily basis. And that’s just what the Eagles did.

“It was a very bright surprise the way our team played this year,” said Fullerton.

After starting the season 1-2, the Eagles reeled off 11 consecutive wins, including a 4-0 victory over Scarborough, the eventual regional champ, to momentarily shoot to the top of the Western Class A Heal Point standings. After two losses to end the season, they finished 12-4, good enough for third place in a strong class.

But the run came to an end last Saturday thanks, in part, to the bat of Scarborough’s Ben Wessel, whose three-run homer was part of a six-run fifth inning that propelled the Storm to a 7-0 win in the regional semifinals.

“The first couple of at-bats I was just missing it,” said Wessel. “In my last at-bat I just got a pitch to hit. It was right where I wanted it.”

While Wessel, who will be attending the University of Rhode Island on a baseball scholarship next year, has not been able to pitch due to a torn elbow ligament, he is finding he can just as easily help in other ways.

“Any way I can help the team, I’ll do it,” said Wessel, who along with the rest of the Storm beat Cheverus 7-5 Wednesday to win the regional crown. “It feels great to contribute.”

Wessel’s homer off of Eagles’ starter Nate Boyle, who had shut down the Storm in first part of the game, came on the heels of a bases-loaded single by Joe Cronin to break a scoreless tie and a Brendan Hall single to make it 3-0.

“We knew the odds were in our favor and it was just a matter of time before we scored,” said Scarborough coach Mike Coutts.

The Red Storm’s outburst certainly allowed starting pitcher Ben Greenberg, who was making his first start since being shut down in May with elbow tendinitis, some breathing room.

If it were not for Greenberg’s brilliance in jams in the first and third innings, the outcome could have been vastly different.

“In a game like this, with these two teams, it seemed like the first team to score was going to win,” said Fullerton. “With high school kids, momentum is huge.”

The Eagles had gotten to the semifinals by relying on the arm of ace Cody Dube, who pitched all 10 innings of a 1-0 win over Biddeford in the quarterfinals June 7. In the top of the 10th, Windham’s Joe Francouer knocked in John Weymouth to score the game’s only run. Dube finished with seven strikeouts, having scattered seven hits.

Even though the Eagles’ dream of grabbing a state title came up short, Fullerton and his players have no regrets.

“We have a great group of kids and they worked all year to send themselves out right and I think they did that,” said Fulleron. “This is the best team that Windham has ever had and they should be proud by the way they played and competed all year.”

Eagles’ starter Nate Boyle, pictured here in an early-season game, pitched well for a while Saturday against Scarborough, but eventually the Red Storm bats got hot.   
Windham Eagles ace Cody Dube is congratulated by fellow senior Robbie Hamilton after recording the final out of a win over Scarborough earlier this season. Last week, Dube pitched his team past Biddeford in the quarterfinals, but the Eagles could not top Scarborough again, losing 7-0 in Saturday’s regional semifinal.