OLD ORCHARD BEACH — A rocky opening inning did in Fayette-Staples at the State American Legion baseball tournament on Thursday.
Post 51 of Messalonskee scored four times in the first frame off Fayette-Staples starter Jack Kenney on its way to a 6-1 victory to lead off the second day of tournament action at The Ball Park in Old Orchard Beach.
“That’s not a great way to start but you have to overcome those things,” said Fayette-Staples head coach Ray Petit. “We just struggled a little bit today.
“It is disappointing. These guys had a great year and it’s a great group of kids. We just couldn’t get it done but we’ll be back next week for the regionals.”
Fayette-Staples were eliminated from the state tournament as a result of its second loss in as many days. It will, however, participate in The American Legion Northeast Regional Tournament as the host team. The tourney is scheduled for Aug. 9-13 at The Ballpark.
Post 51, the Zone 2 and Class A high school champions, did all of its first-inning damage with two outs. Zack Mathieu and Reid Nutter each stroked a two-run double to give the visitors the 4-0 advantage, which turned out to be all the runs it would ultimately need.
Fayette-Staples had an opportunity to get right back into the game in the bottom half of the inning when it loaded the bases with two outs. Post 51 starter Isaiah Fleming escaped the jam by getting Ryder Kenney to ground out to shortstop to end the rally.
The early results, or lack thereof, seemed to sap all the enthusiasm from Fayette-Staples and it never recovered.
“It’s frustrating when you leave guys on but it’s part of the game,” said Jeff Gelinas, who paced Fayette-Staples with two doubles and two singles. “You just have to move on. I think we got to (Fleming) a few times after that but we couldn’t score.”
Fleming kept a lid on the Fayette-Staples offense following its opening-inning threat. He limited the opposition to six hits during the next six innings. Only once during the stretch did Fleming allow a runner to reach third.
“The quality of pitching is better,” Petit said in regards to his team’s lack of offense (just two runs) in their two tournament games. “You’re seeing everybody’s No. 1 and No. 2 (pitcher) unlike playing five days a week when you’re not always seeing those top guys. We struggled a little bit with that.”
Fayette-Staples finally got on the board in the eighth. Trailing 5-0, Jack Kenney reached on an error to lead off the inning and Gelinas followed with a single. One out later Ryder Kenney stroked a run-scoring single to make it a 5-1 contest. Fleming closed out the frame with a back-to-back strike outs, giving his seven in the game.
Nutter came on in relief in the ninth for Post 51. He opened the inning by hitting a batter and walking the next but induced a fly out and a double-play to finish the game.
“We have to hit,” said Gelinas. “You can’t score one run and win any games. We did the same thing yesterday. Even if the first inning didn’t happen you still have a lot of innings and we have to hit.”
— Contact Mark Jeanneret at 282-1535, Ext. 323.
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