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SCARBOROUGH — There’s a new No. 1 team in Class A South baseball.
Marshwood High beat Scarborough 2-0 on Monday to snap the defending state champion’s 25-game winning streak. Senior Gus Alexander pitched a complete-game four-hitter, walking just one batter to outduel Red Storm ace Erik Swenson, who struck out 14.
“It was awesome to go against (Swenson) and I was happy I could kind of match up today,” Alexander said.
Marshwood had only two hits but both were huge. Evin Aceto, a senior, entered as a defensive replacement in the fourth inning and drove in the game’s first run in the fifth, flaring a 3-and-2, two-out curve into right to score Tyler Hussey, who was hit by a pitch and stole second.
“I probably have 10 at-bats this season and this guy’s the No. 1 pitcher in the state. He’s going to come at me so I knew, just put the bat on the ball,” Aceto said. “Luckily he threw me a curveball, I put it into right field, we scored the run and got excited.”
In the sixth, Marshwood followed a similar format. Sam Gennaro, who excelled at shortstop, drew a one-out walk. Brady Isabelle drove a double to left to get Gennaro to third and Ronan Garrett hit a sacrifice fly to right.
WHY MARSHWOOD SUCCEEDS
Marshwood, which was ranked No. 2 in the latest Varsity Maine poll, finished the regular season at 15-1. Scarborough (13-1), which was the unanimous No. 1 team, has games Tuesday at Westbrook and Wednesday at South Portland. Since every team in the 17-team Class A South plays the same schedule, Marshwood’s win against the now No. 2 Red Storm will keep it in the top spot for the tournament. Both teams will earn a bye to the regional quarterfinal, scheduled for Thursday, June 12.
Under fifth-year coach Eric Wells, Marshwood has earned the respect of its peers as a team that plays fundamentally sound baseball with a willingness to pressure defenses with small ball. This season the Hawks made a habit of beating tough teams in tight games, including extra-inning wins against South Portland, Falmouth and most recently an 11-inning marathon against Thornton Academy. Marshwood has won 13 straight games.

“We just play for us. We’re really well coached. Our coach believes in us more than anybody so I give all the credit to him,” Alexander said.
Aceto said Marshwood has learned to “just battle every single day. We don’t look ahead.”
LOOKING TO LEARN
Neither team made an error. Swenson, who has pitched a no-hitter, a perfect game, and was part of another perfect game, retired the first 13 batters he faced before hitting Hussey. Scarborough still hasn’t given up more than two runs in a game this season. So it was not a case of Scarborough imploding, but it will look to learn things — mainly to be quicker to adapt its hitting approach.
Alexander induced nine groundouts to the left side of the infield, which Scarborough coach Wes Ridlon said was partly attributed to his hitters trying to pull pitches on the outside corner.
“This is a good opportunity for guys to understand how quickly your season can be over and how fragile baseball games are, especially in one-and-done situations when you get to the playoffs,” Ridlon said. “The good thing is that this teachable moment comes with an opportunity to play tomorrow.”

LATE RALLY COMES UP SHORT
Scarborough did get runners to second and third in the seventh inning on singles by Matthew Fallona and Kayson Cyr, and a passed ball. Alexander stranded them with a popup to Gennaro in shallow center and grounder to Gennaro, who completed his sixth assist with a throw to Garrett at first.
THEY SAID IT
• “Hats off to the way Eric (Wells) and Marshwood played. They pitched. They didn’t walk guys. They threw a lot of strikes and made plays in the field, and that’s the way baseball should be played. They had a couple big hits and we didn’t have any, and that’s pretty much what it came down to.” — Scarborough coach Wes Ridlon
• “Our approach any day is to just show up and get better. Legitimately, that is our motto. So today coming in, you’re coming into a great baseball atmosphere and we’re going to see how we handle it with a guy (Alexander) who is going to have to pitch in the playoffs for us. We go in to win every game. Our thought process was we’re going to come in and see what we can do against a really good opponent.” – Marshwood coach Eric Wells.
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