SKOWHEGAN — Like many close high school baseball games, you kept waiting for that one mistake that would break this game open. It never happened. Like many close baseball games, you kept waiting for a pitcher to suffer that bout of wildness. It never happened.

Erskine and Skowhegan certainly weren’t flawless, but both were pretty good, and Erskine left Memorial Field with a 2-1 win in a game dominated by strong pitching and defense.

“What a great baseball game,” said Erskine coach Lars Jonassen, whose team improve to 7-3. “I’ve got nothing but respect for their pitcher. Great job.”

Erskine scored both runs in the second inning. Shyler Scates led off with a single and scored on Tom Grady’s double down the left field line. Grady took third when the Indians (4-5) threw home to try to nail Scates, then scored on Jory Humphrey’s single to right field.

“We thought we were going to make a lot more runs, actually. But we weren’t really hitting the ball as well as we have been lately,” Scates said. “The last few games we’ve been hitting the ball very well. The top of our order didn’t produce today.”

Skowhegan got a run back in the bottom of the third. Ben Salley led off with a walk, took second on an errant pickoff throw from Tyler Belanger, and went to third on Chase McKenney’s bunt single. Salley scored on a passed ball, but Skowhegan left the tying run at third base.

Cody Moody threw a complete game for Skowhegan, allowing six hits, just one coming after the third inning. Moody struck out four and walked two, and was helped by a defense that turned three double plays.

“Our kid, Moody, he’s a fighter, and man am I proud of him. The two Erskine kids were phenomenal, and that Scates kid, he came in and shut us down. That’s why he’s going to the next level,” Skowhegan coach Rick York said.

Belanger went four innings before giving way to Scates, who struck out six and gave up one hit in his three innings of relief.

“The curveball was actually breaking a lot more than it had been the past few days, so I pretty much stuck with that. I threw in a couple fastballs, maybe a changeup or something, but it was really just curveballs,” Scates said.

Jonassen said that over his last 42 innings pitched, Scates has walked just one batter.

“I think the key to this was, Shyler Scates showed you why he’s Shyler Scates,” Jonassen said.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com