Baseball: Fifth inning sparks St. Dom’s offense in win over Mt. Abram

AUBURN — Timothee Ouellette came through in the clutch again for St. Dom’s in the fifth en route to a 4-2 baseball win over Mt. Abram on Friday.

Down 2-1, Saints (6-0) leadoff hitter Ashton Hammond worked a walk, and Ouellette followed by sending a fly ball into deep center to the warning track for a triple to plate Hammond.

“When I went out there, some of the boys said, ‘Hit one straight up the middle,'” Ouellette said. “They were playing pretty shallow on me, which surprised me. It was a heater right down the middle and took it like the game plan — right up the middle.”

Saint Dominic Academy's Ridge Dionne tags Mt. Abram's Ash Rollins out at the plate during Friday afternoon's game in Auburn. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

After the Roadrunners (4-2) internationally walked Ridge Dionne, Ouellette scored when Mt. Abram tried to pick him off during Riley Daigle’s at-bat. Dionne went to third and scored when Daigle dropped a bunt down the third-base line for a 4-2 lead.

“You have to play clean baseball,” Mt. Abram coach Jeff Pillsbury said. “We weren’t clean enough tonight. Like I said, I was happy with our pitching and catching. We scratched out a few hits.”

Mt. Abram starting pitcher Payton Mitchell picked off Daigle at first and got Curtis Wheeler and Tom Casserly to pop out to end the threat.

The Roadrunners had a chance in the top of the seventh when Hammond reached his pitch limit after walking Mitchell with one out. Ben Dumais came in to close the game, but on the first pitch he threw, Killian Pillsbury doubled and Mitchell went to third base.

“That was the tying run, I wasn’t worried about it,” Dumais said of Pillsbury’s double. “Second and third, I had the winning run at the plate; I know our guys can make the plays when they hit it.”

Dumais struck out Ashton Rollins and got Logan Dube to ground out to the game.

Mt. Abram had a chance to get a big inning in the top of the fourth, starting when Rollins singled. But later in the inning, Rollins got thrown out at home on a fielder’s choice. After Kaiden Longley singled, Mike Wilkins singled in Cam Grey, who had reached on the fielder’s choice. Hammond struck out Brennan Mitchell to end the threat.

Dumais. who had a loud out in his first at-bat, doubled off Payton Mitchell to drive in a run in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game 1-1.

“I was looking to hit the first pitch,” Dumais said. “Most of (Mitchell’s) pitches were in or out of the zone. I was looking to hit when I got up there.”

St. Dom’s coach Bob Blackman stated that Dumais has been solid hitting in the eighth hole.

“That second at-bat, he hits that line drive down the third-base line and that was a key play,” Blackman said. “Right now, Ben is in a groove and here he is at the bottom of the order, and he’s turning that lineup over.”

Rollins dropped in a single into shallow center field in the top of the fifth to give the Roadrunners a 2-1 lead.

Blackman said this was the Saints’ toughest test of the season so far.

“It was going to be a dogfight; we knew it from right the get-go,” Blackman said. “Two quality teams, throwing punch after punch at each other. I thought we withstood it and came out on the right side.”

Hammond went 6 1/3 innings, allowing eight hits, two walks, one hit batter and struck out six.

Jeff Pillsbury likes the challenge of facing the opposition’s No. 1 pitcher.

“You want a good schedule,” Pillsbury said. “You want to see everyone’s best pitcher. If we squeak into the playoffs, maybe we can drum up a little luck.”

Payton Mitchell went all six innings, allowing four hits, walking 10 and striking out four.

“We struggled the first time through, but he’s the best pitcher we have faced so far this year,” Ouellette said. “Once we got him timed up, we started to put together some hits. That’s when we got some success.”