STANDISH — Searsport pitcher Troy Reynolds was the epitome of effectively wild — striking out 15 while walking eight — in leading top-seeded Searsport to a 6-2 victory over No. 2 Valley in the Class D South baseball final Wednesday at St. Joseph’s College.

Reynolds, a senior headed to the University of Southern Maine, allowed four hits and two earned runs while throwing 161 pitches in seven innings to give the Vikings (16-3) their second straight regional title and outduel University of Maine-bound Cody Laweryson.

“I was very out of the groove,” Reynolds said. “The mound is tough to pitch off. It’s a lot higher than most of the other mounds I’ve been on, and it’s hard, too. I couldn’t dig out anything.”

Reynolds still managed to perplex Valley hitters, recording his first 11 outs via strikeout. The first out recorded in the field, a pop out by Nathan Ames to end the fourth, got him out of a jam after he had walked the bases loaded.

“He didn’t have his ‘A’ game. It was a struggle for him to throw out there,” Searsport coach John Frye said. “Even with him at his B or C, he’s still better than most pitchers we see. He battled all day but he came up big.”

“He was effectively wild,” said Laweryson, who had two hits and reached via error twice. “He would throw some pitches that would go over your head and others would be right on the outside corner. He threw a good game. He did what he needed to do to beat us.”

Laweryson, a senior, allowed three earned runs on five hits for Valley (14-3). He struck out six, walked one and hit a batter in six innings.

He got stronger as the game went along, but the Vikings took advantage as he tried to find a rhythm with a pair of first-inning runs. After a one-out error, Kyle Moore doubled to left to score Eric Phillips. Moore eventually came around to score when Reynolds beat out a potential double-play relay to first.

“We’re really good at reading the ball out of the hand, whether it’s a speed change or a movement change,” Reynolds said. “I think we’re a good hitting team and that’s why we’re here again.”

“At the beginning, I wasn’t hitting my spots,” Laweryson said. “They were hitting the ball hard.”

“That helped me relax a lot,” Reynolds added. “Even though I wasn’t settling in up there on the stat sheet, mentally I was settled in. I wasn’t very worried.”

Moore led Searsport with a double and single and three RBIs.

Laweryson started to find his groove in the second, but a leadoff walk, stolen base, passed ball and ground out by Phillips scored Barrett Grant to make it 3-0 in the third.

The Vikings broke it open with three in the fifth with a rally that started dubiously.

Matt Barlow squared to bunt on a two-strike offering by Laweryson. The ball hit his bat and then his helmet and should have been strike three, but Searsport protested enough to get umpires to conference about the call, which was ultimately ruled a hit batter.

“That was one of the worst calls that I’ve ever seen down here,” Valley coach Scott Laweryson said. “It was completely wrong if you ask me. That opened the door for them, but we can’t be blaming umpires. We didn’t come to hit.”

An error and back-to-back singles by Phillips and Moore doubled Searsport’s lead to 6-0.

Laweryson finally got Valley in the hit column with an infield single with one out in the fifth. The Cavaliers left 12 men on base.

Collin Miller spoiled the shutout with a single in the seventh and later stole home for the second run.

Searsport will face Penobscot Valley for the Class D state title at 3 p.m. Saturday at Bangor’s Mansfield Stadium.

Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638

rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com

Twitter: @RAWmaterial33

Related Stories