OAKLAND — Messalonskee High School baseball coach Peter McLaughlin couldn’t ask for a better all-around effort from his team than the one he saw on Thursday afternoon, especially in the playoffs.
The Eagles, the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Class A tournament, pounded out 14 hits, including a pair of home runs. Sophomore Josh Joy was dominant on the mound, allowing just one hit to No. 5 Oxford Hills, and Messalonskee’s defense was flawless, turning two double plays. All of that added up to a 12-0 win in a game ended by Nick Mayo’s walkoff grand slam in the bottom of the fifth inning.
“We had a great week of practice. The guys were really focused. They’re a veteran group that’s been here before. We talked about staying centered and staying hungry every inning,” McLaughlin said.
Messalonskee, now 14-3, will play at No. 1 Bangor (15-2), at a time to be determined. Oxford Hills ends the season at 9-8.
For the Eagles, the game avenged a 1-0 loss to the Vikings in the regular season.
“It bugged us. We wanted to get back at them. We knew we’d face them again,” Messalonskee second baseman Ben Frazee, who had two hits, including an RBI double, and scored two runs, said. “It felt great to get back on the field with the boys.”
Thursday’s game was a return to the lineup for Frazee, who missed the final three games of the regular season after suffering a concussion at practice.
“Frazee coming back out of his injury was huge for us,” McLaughlin said. “We had him later in the lineup, just because he’s been out a couple of weeks. (Wednesday) was his first full day of practice with rigor, and he was hungry.”
Messalonskee led 6-0 entering the bottom of the fifth inning. Joy led off with a walk, and Sam Bell and Trevor Gettig followed with singles to load the bases. Jared Cunningham’s sacrifice fly to left field scored a run, and Zach Mathieu singled to plate another. After Jake Dexter was intentionally walked to load the bases and set up a force play at every base, Mayo drove a Will Frank pitch over the left field wall to clear the bases and end the game.
“When our bats are going like that, we’re a tough team to beat,” McLaughlin said.
Joy only faced one jam on the mound. Emery Chickering led off the third with a single for the Vikings, stole second base, and went to third base on a groundout. After Joy hit Jake Spinhirn, he got out of the inning with a double play ball to Cunningham at short, who turned the double play with Frazee and first baseman Mayo. The trio turned another double play in the fifth.
Joy allowed one hit and one walk while striking out three, and threw just 60 pitches.
“Josh did phenomenal on the mound. He stayed ahead (in the count),” McLaughlin said.
Messalonskee scored three runs in the bottom of the second inning to take control of the game. Mayo led off with a single and scored on a Joy single. Bell hit an RBI single to make it 2-0, and Gettig’s double to deep center, almost chased down by Brady LaFrance, scored another run.
The Eagles added three more runs in the third. Mathieu’s home run to left center led off the inning. Frazee drove in a run with a double to right, and later scored when Bell reached on an error.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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