WATERVILLE — After pitching on the mound at Colby College in the preseason, Waterville Senior High School’s Cody Pellerin decided he didn’t like it. His foot slipped off the artificial turf, he said.

If Pellerin was uncomfortable pitching on the Colby mound Thursday night, you’d never know it. The junior threw a complete game four-hitter, striking out nine and allowing just one unearned run in a 3-1 Waterville win over Gardiner Area High School.

“I have some football cleats on, so I can have some traction,” Pellerin said after the game.

As it was in his season-opening win over Winslow, Pellerin’s out pitch was his curveball. After the third inning, he allowed just two base runners, when Alex Shorey and Devon Maschino hit back-to-back singles with one out in the bottom of the sixth.

“The curveball is a very comfortable pitch for me. Clearly I throw it a lot. The fastball was working good. I was hitting my spots,” Pellerin said.

All three of Waterville’s runs also were unearned. Andrew Roderigue led off the top of the sixth with a walk and scored all the way from first base on a throwing error to tie the game at 1-1. The Panthers (2-1) had chances to make it a bigger inning, but had two runners thrown out at third base.

“One was a contact play, and I didn’t worry about that because we still have runners on second and third and can score on a wild pitch,” Waterville coach Dennis Martin said. “In the seventh, we finally got a hit when we needed to.”

Kody Vallee led off the top of the seventh with a single, went to second base on Jackson Aldrich’s sacrifice bunt, and scored when Justin Wentworth reached on an error while bunting. A throwing error moved Wentworth to third base and he scored on a passed ball to give Waterville a 3-1 cushion. Pellerin then retired the side in order in the bottom of the inning to end the game.

Gardiner (1-2) took a 1-0 lead in the third when Nick Pooler scored on Isaiah Magee’s triple to the center field wall. Magee was thrown out at the plate trying to stretch the hit into an inside the park home run. The Panthers had chances to tie the game in fourth and fifth innings, but stranded runners in scoring position each time.

“We couldn’t get that big hit. It was always second and third with two outs. (Gardiner) made the play and they made the key pitch,” Martin said.

Hunter Chasse started for the Tigers and pitched into the seventh, allowing eight hits and one walk while striking out six.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM