WINSLOW — There are a lot of new faces on the Waterville Senior High School baseball team this season, but some things haven’t changed. The two-time defending state champions still took advantage of solid pitching, strong defense and timely hitting in Wednesday’s season opener at Winslow.

That led to a 6-2 victory for Waterville at Jack Nivison Diamond.

Five of Waterville’s six runs scored with two outs, including three runs in the seventh. After two quick strikeouts, leadoff hitter Dan Pooler reached on an error, stole second base and scored on another error. A single by J.T. Whitten scored Matt Lee, and Whitten scored on Tyler Bouchard’s double to center field.

Waterville’s top four hitters — Pooler, Lee, Whitten and Bouchard — scored five runs and went 5 for 14 Wednesday.

“The top of the order is going to be tough for us this year, we can count on that,” Waterville coach Don Sawyer said. “They have good speed, so if we get them on, we can do things.”

Whitten, Waterville’s starting pitcher, didn’t need much offensive help. The senior threw a complete game, allowing eight hits and one walk while striking out six.

“I felt good with the curveball. It worked for me,” Whitten, who went 2 for 3 at the plate and drove in two runs, said.

Added Sawyer: “J.T., he’s solid. I don’t think he throws particularly hard, but he had great location today. He was able to control his offspeed and his curveball today. He just keeps us in the game. He doesn’t walk people.”

Whitten gave up a run in the fourth and another in the sixth. Down 3-2 in the sixth, Winslow had the tying run on second base with nobody out, but Whitten got out of the jam with a strikeout and two lazy fly balls to the outfield.

“He was hitting his spots and changing his speeds a lot. He wasn’t an overpowering pitcher, but he put the ball where he needed to,” Winslow coach Jesse LaCasse said.

Don Camp pitched well for Winslow, allowing seven hits and two walks while striking out three. Three Winslow errors led to four unearned runs.

“(Camp) deserved the start and he threw a great ball game. Just a couple errors behind him that caused some unearned runs,” LaCasse said.

Waterville took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Pooler led off with a single, and when Lee reached on a bunt single, Pooler went to third base on a throwing error, scoring on a groundout to short by Whitten.

Winslow tied the game in the fourth when Dylan Hapworth scored on a Camp single. Brian Bellows scored on a passed ball to give Waterville a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning, and Lance Lefebvre drove in Whitten with a sixth inning single to push the Panthers’ lead to 3-1.

Gabe Smith scored on a throwing error in the bottom of the sixth to cut Waterville’s lead to one run.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

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