FAIRFIELD — Before Friday, at least, May had been anything but a good month for the Skowhegan baseball team.
After starting 4-1, the River Hawks entered a cross-class showdown with Lawrence having lost three of their past four. Yet as assistant coach Brad Cyr told the players before the game, the team had been right there with a chance to win in two of those defeats despite not playing its best baseball.
In this game, some better baseball came for Skowhegan at a critical time. The River Hawks claimed a six-inning 11-1 victory over the previously undefeated Bulldogs, showing patience in walking nine times while also smacking 10 hits in the mercy-rule win.
“I think we were pretty confident (coming into the game),” said Skowhegan’s Silas Tibbetts, who pitched a complete game two-hitter. “We’ve had some rough games, but we’ve also had some really good games, and I think today is a good example of what we can do.”
Tibbetts had an RBI double at the plate for Skowhegan in addition to his five-strikeout performance on the mound. Trevor Austin and Noah McMahon had three hits apiece for the River Hawks, who recorded at least one hit in every inning.
Skowhegan scored three runs in the first inning, taking four walks from Lawrence’s Braden Littlefield and getting base hits from McMahon and Jason Aubin. Gavin Lunt then relieved Littlefield in the top of the fourth and threw two clean innings before the Bulldogs (9-1) got a run back in the bottom of the third.
In the fourth, though, Skowhegan (6-4) would finally get to Lunt, scoring four more runs as the senior reliever allowed a hit, four walks and three wild pitches. The River Hawks then plated three more in the top of the sixth before Tibbetts struck out a pair in the bottom half to seal the win.
“We actually hit the ball, and we had some good pitching, but we also made some good baseball plays in the field,” said Skowhegan head coach Mike LeBlanc. “That’s a big part of our success; we know our pitching is good, but when you don’t make plays behind your pitcher, it doesn’t matter.”
Indeed, Skowhegan was solid in the field, playing an error-free game while also making a number of difficult putouts. One of those putouts was in the bottom of the first as Austin made a diving catch in right-field to conclude an eight-pitch inning for Tibbetts.
Those short innings were the norm Friday for the Skowhegan ace, who had thrown just 50 pitches entering the sixth inning. The junior admitted to being a bit on edge after Lawrence made good contact in the first inning, but his teammates’ defense behind him minimized the Bulldogs’ threats.
“In the first inning, I was getting a little nervous because they were hitting the ball,” Tibbetts said. “It was going right at people, but I think our defense was making plays, and I was throwing strikes. That’s what made it pretty efficient, and we got the win.”
Littlefield took the loss for Lawrence, which hadn’t given up more than five runs all season and hadn’t scored fewer than four. The Bulldogs’ two hits came courtesy of Cole Quirion in the third inning and Cam Dostie in the sixth.
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