WATERVILLE — Jake Dexter led off in the bottom of the first inning and drove a ball to deep left-center field, only to have center fielder Kyle Fletcher make a running catch in the gap. One down.
Cody Martin stepped in and drilled a ground ball in the hole. Second baseman Brady Dion made a sliding stop, gathered himself and threw to first for the out. Two down.
With those threats out of the way, Gardiner pitcher Ben Allen took care of the rest. Making his first start of the summer, Allen threw a complete-game, four-hitter on only 70 pitches as Gardiner blanked Post 51, 5-0, in Zone 2 American Legion Baseball action Thursday evening at Coombs Field.
“I’m a starter in high school,” said Allen, who will be a senior at Winthrop in the fall. “I usually throw first or second day, every week. I’m used to it. It’s actually nice to have kind of a break. The arm’s feeling pretty good coming into tonight.”
Allen’s economical outing — the game was over in an hour and 25 minutes — had the Gardiner coaches joking after the game that they would start him again on Saturday. Gardiner played good defense and got three hits apiece from Fletcher and Alex Curtis.
“I had to come in and keep these guys off balance,” Allen said. “They’re a great team. They’ve got a lot of great players (out) there. That was pretty much my goal for tonight. It didn’t really matter how long I went.”
Post 51 (4-8) also made some nice defensive plays. Jake Dexter robbed Dalton Therrien of a hit with a leaping grab at shortstop, Josh Woodard made a sprawling catch down the left field line and Martin snagged a tough line drive in right field.
So with Patrick Breton also pitching well, the game came down to Gardiner (5-7) making the most of two opportunities. In the top of the fourth, Gardiner loaded the bases with one out. Breton battled back with a strikeout, but No. 8 hitter Pat Coughlan singled through the left side for a 2-0 lead. In the fifth, Allen singled up the middle through a drawn-in infield to score Fletcher and Therrien. Later in the inning, Allen scored the game’s final run on a two-out error.
To make a Zone 2 Legion comparison, Allen was like a lefty version of RTD ace Taylor Bacon — certainly not overpowering speed, but fine placement and a way of making his pitches look enticing when they weren’t.
“We know he can pitch,” Gardiner coach Dan Burdin said. “He mixed speeds very well today and did just what we needed him to do. He’s got an OK fastball, but he even changes speeds on his fastball.”
In this balanced six-team league, Gardiner could finish anywhere from third to sixth. Burdin often talks about extending the momentum of a win one night to the game the next day. After scoring four runs in the bottom of the seventh to defeat The First 8-7 on Wednesday, Gardiner kept that momentum going.
“We’ve been working on that,” Burdin said. “Pete Dennis, our assistant coach, does a great job with the kids, keeping them up, keeping them in the game. He threw batting practice the other day two hours before the game. We’re coming around right at the right time when we want to.”
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
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