WINSLOW — After his team’s third win in as many days, Maranacook baseball coach Eric Brown smiled.
“If you asked me last week if I thought we’d be 3-1 at this point, I’d have told you I didn’t see it coming. We’re just hitting the ball great,” Brown said.
The Black Bears beat Waterville on Monday, then Gardiner on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Maranacook played at Winslow, perhaps the toughest opponent in the three-day baseball marathon, and left Nivison Diamond with an impressive 10-6 win.
Maranacook and Winslow are now 3-1.
Brown went to freshman Avery Beckwith for the start, thinking the Black Raiders would have trouble with a slower pitcher. Brown was right.
“I figured Winslow is a good fastball hitting team, so we’d try to keep them all balance with some guys who just don’t throw as hard yet,” Brown said.
When Avery ran out of gas, Brown turned to fellow freshman Jared Beckwith, Avery’s brother, in the fifth inning. Jared pitched into the seventh inning, when Jason Brooks came on to get the final two outs for the save.
“Their starter just kept us off balance. He wasn’t throwing overly hard, he was just mixing speeds and we were out front. A lot of fly balls, a lot of pop ups,” Winslow coach Aaron Wolfe said.
Maranacook scored a pair of runs in the fourth inning and added four more runs in the top of the fifth to break open a close game. With the score tied 2-2 in the fourth, the Black Bears capitalized on an inning-extending error when Brooks hit a two-run single. In the fifth, Dan Garand hit a two-run double to left, and two more runs scored on wild pitches to extend Maranacook’s lead to 8-2.
“We’re hitting well right now,” Garand, who added an RBI double in the sixth. “My first real hits of the season, so that was good. I was ready, and I finally got them.”
Jake Trask went the distance for the Black Raiders, throwing 146 pitches while striking out 11 and walking seven.
Trailing 10-3 going into the bottom of the seventh, Winslow rallied for three runs. Spencer Miranda led off with a walk and scored from second base on Dameron Rodrigue’s bunt single. Ben Smith (three hits, three runs) scored on a fielder’s choice by Alex Berard, and Rodrigue came home on the back end of a double steal.
For Maranacook, Brooks drove in a pair of runs and had two hits. Cam Brochu also drove in two runs. Miranda scored twice for Winslow.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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