WATERVILLE — You’ll find a sasquatch before you find a dominant baseball team in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference’s Class B division. Any team is capable of beating any other. As exhibit A, we offer the Lawrence-Waterville rivalry.
Last week, Waterville went to Lawrence and took a 10-run victory. Wednesday afternoon, Lawrence went to Waterville and evened the season series with a 4-2 win.
“That’s kind of what baseball is now. On any given day, any team can show up and it can be completely different,” Waterville coach Russell Beckwith said. “You could have a series with every team in the league, and if you played 10 games, you’d split somewhere down around the middle.”
Waterville catcher Dan Gaunce tags out Lawrence baserunner Nick Robertson during a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B game Wednesday in Waterville. Morning Sentinel photo by Michael G. Seamans
Lawrence improved to 6-5, while Waterville fell to 5-6.
Lawrence took the lead for good with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth, the rally coming after the Purple Panthers recorded two quick outs. Nick Robertson started things with a line drive single that Waterville shortstop Joe Hamelin was able to knock down, but not corral. Pinch hitter Ryan Bourque walked, and Nate Bickford singled to drive in Robertson with the go ahead run.
“He’s (David Barre) a good pitcher, so I was guessing he would throw a curveball. I guessed right,” said Bickford, who went 3 for 3 with a double.
Dylan Coombs singled to score Bourque and give the Bulldogs a 4-2 lead.
“Today, we just got some clutch hitting, two-out hitting. We ran into a couple outs early. We’ve been struggling at the plate scoring runs, so we tried to be aggressive on the bases. With that, you are going to run into a couple outs,” Lawrence coach Rusty Mercier said.
Lawrence starting pitcher Hayden Lee pitched into the fifth inning before giving the ball to Jacob Ryder, who closed out the game for the win. Both Bulldog pitchers were effective with breaking pitches, keeping Waterville hitters off balance.
“I think we did a better job last week of getting on fastballs and putting the ball in the play,” Beckwith said.
Lawrence took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Zach Nickerson scored on a Coombs sacrifice fly to left field. The Panthers answered in the bottom of the inning, taking a 2-1 lead when Cooper Hart and Noah Von Oesen scored on Kai Rabideau’s single. The Bulldogs tied the game in the third, when Christian Adams scored on a Chris Dow double to left.
Lawrence runner Chris Dow signals the safe sign after he tried to steal third against Waterville during a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B game Wednesday in Waterville. Dow was called out on the play. Morning Sentinel photo by Michael G. Seamans
Brock Jolicouer started on the mound for Waterville and was relieved by Barre in the third.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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