BIDDEFORD — Anytime teams from Biddeford and Thornton Academy get together it’s a big game.
Saturday’s baseball showdown was no different — especially with new TA coach Jason Lariviere leading the Golden Trojans into St. Louis Field to take on his alma mater.
Lariviere, who played for the Tigers from 1988 to 1991, would get to celebrate another victory at the historic field thanks to a complete-game, 1-hitter from junior Luke Chessie and a big third inning from the TA offense as the Trojans picked up a 3-0 win over Biddeford.
“It’s big but it’s more for the kids. I walked onto the field and it was a lot of memories,” said Lariviere. “I haven’t been back here in a long time, so being back on this field brings back a lot of memories for me … but I’m more happy for them for getting this W because they’ve worked hard all offseason and for us to get a big W against someone that’s a real competitive team in this league is always something I want.”
Chessie helped the Trojans bounce back from a shutout loss to Windham by shutting down a strong Biddeford lineup.
“It’s not fun to get shut out, so it’s nice to bounce back, score some runs and win a game,” Chessie said.
Chessie, who had two strikeouts in the win, would credit his defense with helping him keep the Tigers off the scoreboard.
“I was just pounding the zone with my fastball and my defense was making plays behind me,” said Chessie. “I mean I think I had two strikeouts so I didn’t do much myself, it was the defense. I was keeping the ball low, causing a lot of groundouts and that’s my game because I’m not going to overpower anyone.”
The Trojans, who had eight hits on the day, would score all three runs in the top of the third inning. Jacob Laplume started things off with a single. He would then steal second and reached third on a sacrifice fly from Chessie. After Brogan Searle-Belanger was hit by a pitch and Cameron Cross worked a walk, Cameron Seymour smacked a 2-run single up the middle to score Laplume and Searle-Belanger to make it 2-0. TA would add another run when Tim Smith drilled a double to bring home Cross.
“Today was huge just because, I’ve said it before, this league’s tough and anyone can beat you so you have to come out with your A game,” said Lariviere. “We happened to get three runs in one inning and Luke just pitched phenomenally … and defensively we played really well and when we do that we’re going to be tough to beat.”
Biddeford pitcher Brice Springer would settle down after the third and scattered just three hits the rest of the way.
“He’s been our guy all year. He doesn’t seem to get rattled. He just keeps pounding the zone and I thought he pitched great,” said Biddeford coach Keith LeBlanc.
Unfortunately for Springer, the Tigers were unable to provide him any run support as they failed to cash in on their only real opportunity to light up the scoreboard.
Freshman Ashton Crowell and senior Tucker Dineen walked to open the bottom of the sixth. Curtis Petit would then lay down a perfect sac bunt to put runners on second and third with one out.
A quick visit to the mound by Lariviere helped Chessie settle down and the standout would quell the threat.
“He was like, ‘what are you doing? What happened? You’ve been throwing strikes all game,” said Chessie with a laugh. “I got back into it, started throwing strikes and eventually got out of it so that was definitely big considering we only scored three runs. Those two runs could have totally changed the game.”
Chessie recovered by getting a fly out to center and one of his two strikeouts to slam the door.
The junior was able to shut down the Tigers in order in the bottom of the seventh to secure the Trojans’ fourth win of the season.
“He really works fast and just kind of kept his rhythm really well and kept us off balance,” said LeBlanc on Chessie.
Biddeford’s lone hit came from Kurtis Edgerton in the bottom of the fourth. Unfortunately for the Tigers, Edgerton would be picked off to end any scoring chance.
“One of my things is always pitching and defense and I thought we did a really nice job of both those things,” said LeBlanc. “You kind of always hope you’re going to be able to scratch across some runs some place but we weren’t today — that kid pitched really well.”
NOTES: Thornton Academy would get two singles from both Laplume and Calvin Christoforo. Searle-Belanger added a double and Chessie had a single … The Tigers (4-3) will play Deering at Hadlock Field on Tuesday … Thornton (4-2) is scheduled to welcome Falmouth to Saco on Tuesday.
— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.

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