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STANDISH – It’s been 39 years since Messalonskee won its last state baseball championship. On Saturday at Larry Mahaney Diamond at St. Joseph’s College, the Eagles won their first Class A state crown.
The Eagles capitalized on seven Scarborough errors to take a 6-3 win. The victory capped a season-ending 10-game win streak for Messalonskee.
“We made 11 errors in 16 games,” Scarborough (17-3) head coach Mike Coutts said..”It’s just one of those things.”
While Scarborough struggled in the field, the Eagles shined.
Right fielder Reid Nutter chased down a pair of fly balls, one to the foul pole in the sixth inning, and one in foul territory for the first out of the seventh inning. Freshman catcher Trevor Gettig recorded the game’s final out by snagging a high pop foul to the screen, and the Eagles infield turned a pair of double plays.
It was the second double play that fans will talk about for years.After Devin Warren walked Sam Terry to open the bottom of the fifth inning, Scarborough’s Greg Viola hit a ground ball that appeared headed to left field for a base hit.
Dexter dove to stop the ball, then fired a perfect throw to his younger brother Jake Dexter at second base for one out. Jake “Boomer” Dexter turned a made the throw to Nick Mayo at first for the double play, ending the Red Storm’s threat.
“I saw the hops that (Scarborough shortstop Joe) Cronin was getting. I was trying to stay back a little bit, keep my eye on the ball, and the rest is really history,” Sam Dexter said. “Boom made a good throw on the feed.”
Added Messalonskee head coach Ray Bernier: “I’ve had Sammy for four years, and he does things you normally don’t see from a high school ballplayer.”
Messalonskee’s defense helped Devin Warren, a sophomore, settle down after allowing a run in the first inning and another in the second, staking the Red Storm to a 2-0 lead.
“Our defense is so good. Sam, on one of those plays, it’s crazy. That’s him. That’s the nature of Sam,” said Warren, who allowed three hits and five walks with five strikeouts before Jake Dexter came on in relief with one out in the seventh inning. “I knew I had the stuff all year, and these guys are no different than any team. They’re just boys like us, and that helped calm me down.”
Scarborough starting pitcher Ben Greenberg was perfect for three innings, before Jake Dexter led off the fourth with a sharp single to left field. Travis St. Pierre and Nutter also had singles in the fourth, but three Scarborough errors led to four unearned runs.
“We all know that we can have that one inning where we can bust it out.,” Sam Dexter said. “That second time around, we knew what he had. He didn’t throw a lot offspeed. We knew we’d jump on the fastball…. We didn’t panic. Boomer did a great job leading off with that hit. Put the ball in play, and good things happen.”
Messalonskee added two more runs in the sixth, and again, the common denominator was three Scarborough errors. St. Pierre, Warren and Nutter hit consecutive singles to start the inning, but the Red Storm threw the ball around, all the Eagles to advance and score.
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