SOUTH CHINA — Erskine’s Jory Humphrey didn’t expect to pitch Friday due to a sore shoulder.

But when teammate Tyler Belanger was unable to go because of an injury, Humphrey took the ball and gave the Eagles seven strong innings in a 4-3 win against Lawrence.

Shyler Scates doubled home the winning run in the bottom of the fifth and Humphrey took care of the rest, retiring the last seven batters he faced. The senior left-hander grew stronger as the game went on. He allowed seven hits, struck out four, issued no walks and hit a batter. He also picked a runner off first base

“I wasn’t going to overpower anyone so I’ve got to hit my spots and get ahead,” Humphrey said.

The Bulldogs (0-2) got a nice combined pitching performance from freshman starter Cody Martin and senior Alex Leathers, who between them allowed five hits.

“They pitched to contact, nothing overpowering,” Lawrence coach Rusty Mercier said. “We wanted to get them both three or four innings, that was the game plan.”

Belanger was scheduled to pitch but was having problems with a facial injury sustained last week in a scrimmage. He had it checked out Thursday and discovered he had a broken cheek bone and is confined to bed rest.

Humphrey started slowly, hitting Matt Champney to lead off the game. A double to right by Isiah Fleming put runners at second and third. Champney scored on a safety squeeze by his brother Nick, who would also squeeze home a run in the third. Fleming scored on a base hit by Kyle McLain.

Humphrey threw 41 pitches in the first two innings but just 45 over the last five. He retired 15 of the last 16 batters he faced.

“He’s been that way since his freshman year,” Erskine coach Lars Jonassen said of Humphrey’s slow start. “We always joke we should start him in the fourth inning.”

The Eagles (1-1) tied the game with three runs in the bottom of the third. No. 9 batter Nick Gayer opened with a single to right. A walk to Sean Cabaniss and a sacrifice bunt by John Suga put runners at second and third. Ryan Pulver’s ground ball scored one run, Scates singled in a second run, stole second and scored on Humphrey’s double down the right-field line.

Leathers pitched well over the final three innings, but his leadoff walk to Cabaniss hurt. Suga bunted him to second and he scored on Scates’ ground-rule double to left.

“The last few days I’ve just been working on soft toss, getting line drives in,” Scates said. “With these new bats you can’t really power the ball so line drives are what I’ve been trying to do.”

Humphrey picked Leathers off first after the Lawrence senior reached on a bunt with one out in the fifth. Erskine catcher Brenden Wood also picked Cole Robinson off first following a failed bunt attempt in the second inning.

“I’ve always worked on them,” Humphrey said of his pickoffs. “It’s just a way to help you lower your pitch count.”

Gary Hawkins — 621-5638

ghawkins@centralmaine.com

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