AUGUSTA — The Zone 2 American Legion Baseball season began with a great pitching duel between Nate Veilleux of Post 51 and Augusta’s Ryan Minoty.
Now we’re in the playoffs, and it looks like those two will do battle again this morning.
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On the opening day of the Zone 2 tournament Saturday, Augusta defeated Franklin County 5-3, while Post 51 routed Gardiner/Post 204, 11-2. That sets up a winner’s bracket game between Augusta and Post 51, and an elimination game between Gardiner/Post 204 and Franklin County. Both games will begin at 11 a.m. in Augusta.
There will be a third game today, matching the Post 51/Augusta loser and the Franklin/Gardiner winner. That one is also an elimination game, and is slated for a 2:30 p.m. start.
Augusta (15-2, with 15 straight wins) tabbed Luke Duncklee to start Saturday, with Minoty coming in to get the final five outs. Duncklee, who hadn’t worked as a starting pitcher since the high school season, allowed three hits and struck out 12 in 7 1/3 innings, while Minoty struck out four batters for a total of 16 strikeouts by Augusta pitching.
“I just knew I had to throw strikes,” Duncklee said. “I had some control problems earlier. But I felt good. My arm still feels good. The first inning was a little tough, but once I settled in, I felt great.”
Craig Marshall opened the game with a double for Franklin County (9-9) and came home on a single by pitcher Tim Smith. But Duncklee retired the last two batters of the first and all nine batters over the next three innings.
The Flyers, meanwhile, made three errors in the first inning and Augusta scored two runs without a hit. With Smith (one earned run in 7 2/3 innings) matching Duncklee, Augusta scratched out a run in the third when Corey Lapierre singled home Jason Burns, and the score stayed 3-1 until the top of the eighth.
Franklin County got a run that inning on three walks and an error, and Duncklee exited in favor of Minoty. The Augusta ace got out of that fix and then helped his cause with a leadoff double in the eighth as Augusta extended its lead to 5-2. The Flyers got a run in the top of the ninth, but Minoty struck out the last three batters looking to end the game.
Although Minoty came on to get the save and pitched 1 2/3 innings, Post 51 coach Paul Jacobs felt certain he would get the start today.
“We’re gonna get Minoty — there’s no doubt about it,” Jacobs said. “He can throw 80 innings and it’s not going to bother him.
“He knows how to pitch. He can put the ball anywhere he wants it. We just gotta have good at bats: Look for a zone, take a swing at it and hope things happen.”
Veilleux and Minoty pitched against each other on opening day, with Post 51 taking a 3-2 victory. Minoty beat Post 51, 5-4, earlier this month.
Post 51 had nine hits against Gardiner pitcher Forrest Chadwick, and although all nine were singles, it was enough to score six runs and get to Gardiner’s bullpen after five innings.
“He threw the ball well,” Jacobs said. “We just had good pitch selection and took a hack at it.”
“He’s tough as anyone when he gets a couple strikes on you, and he’s got a real good curveball,” said Post 51 second baseman Dylan Foster, who went 5 for 5 and scored four runs. “So that was my approach — just jumping on his fastball early in the count.”
Blair Blaisdell started for Post 51 and allowed two runs in seven innings. Post 51 got him three runs in the bottom of the first inning on three singles, a passed ball and two Gardiner errors in the outfield.
“That was huge, a big mental boost on my part knowing that I’m going back out with a 3-0 lead,” Blaisdell said. “We played pretty good defense. We hit the ball. So it was good for my mental part of the game.”
Sam Dexter added three hits for Post 51, including a home run. Chris DeRaps singled and doubled. Gardiner got a home run from Josh Prue in the second inning and doubles by Cody Plourde and Spencer Allen in the seventh, but also ran itself out of a couple potential rallies.
“Obviously, we’ve got to score runs,” Gardiner coach Dan Burdin said. “We didn’t start hitting until the sixth or seventh or eighth inning. We ran the bases terribly. A kid tries to tag up on a ‘No! No! No!’ from Coach. Another kid tries to pull a play where both coaches are saying no.
“We just can’t have that. You’re playing against too good of teams to be making mistakes, and we had the meat of our lineup coming up both times. So we gotta get the guys on base, let them stay on base, and let the guys with the bats do some work.”
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
mdifilippo@centralmaine.com
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