WATERVILLE — It was typical early-season high school baseball. A cold wind blew throughout the game, and both Nokomis and Waterville made errors that will likely not be made in May and June. Nokomis was able to capitalize on those mistakes a little more than the Purple Panthers, and took a 6-3 win at Colby College’s Coombs Field on Saturday morning.

It was the season opener for Nokomis, while Waterville is now 1-1. Nokomis shortstop Josh Smestad chalked his team’s three errors up to early-season jitters and rust.

“We’ve been locked up in the gym for about a month and a half now, but that’s just Maine for you,” Smestad, who scored two runs and drove in a pair, said. “(Friday) was our first practice on our field, so this is the second time we’ve been on a nice field.”

Five of the Warriors’ six runs were unearned. Waterville committed six errors, with three in the second inning leading to a pair of Nokomis runs. The only earned Nokomis run came in the first, when Garrett Burke walked with the bases loaded to score Smestad with the game’s first run.

Gabe Gilley’s RBI single scored Brock Graves in the top of the fourth inning to stake the Warriors to a 4-0 lead. Waterville starter Cody Pellerin settled down after that, retiring the final seven hitters he faced to keep the Panthers in it over his five innings on the mound. The Warriors made Pellerin work early, with 48 of his 89 pitches thrown in the first two innings.

“It’s been tough, because we haven’t really gotten out on a mound with no preseason, so that was really Cody’s first mound work of the year. It was nice to see him settle down after the first inning and keep us in the game,” Waterville coach Russ Beckwith said.

Ahead 4-2 in the top of the sixth, Smestad gave the Warriors a four-run cushion with his two-run, two-out single to left center.

“We were talking about it, that we needed more runs. My teammates were encouraging me. I waited for a couple pitches. I love the high and inside (pitch), which is where that was,” Smestad said.

Waterville had a chance in the bottom of the seventh, loading the bases with nobody out. A Pellerin infield single scored Noah Tilton to make it 6-3, but relief pitcher Grady Berry came on to get a pair of strikeouts and a groundout to end the game.

“A different day, a little better mentally prepared, that’s a different game. I was proud of the effort we had at the end, to put us in a situation to possibly at least tie that game. It’s nice to see early on we had a little bit of fight,” Beckwith said.

Josh Perry threw five linings to earn the win for Nokomis. Graves scored a pair of runs.

Pellerin had two hits for Waterville. In his five innings on the mound, Pellerin allowed three hits, striking out six and walking three, one intentionally.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM

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