Wiscasset High School baseball team defeated Buckfield 4-0 on June 18 at St. Joseph’s College in Standish to lay claim to their first Western Maine Class D championship. Tyler Bailey went the distance in the shut out win, striking out seven, walking one (2 hit batters) and scattering four hits.
“He was huge,” coach Mike Bowles said of his young pitcher’s best outing of the season.
“It was a great team effort, a great defensive effort,” Bowles said.
The Wolverines finished their Mt.Valley Conference with a 7-9 record and were outscored 92-56 against Class C and B schools. They entered the West D tournament as the fourth seed, and have chewed up the competition, outscoring their playoff opponents 23-3, including beating Valley by 10-0 mercy ruling in the quarter-finals, and knocking off number one seed Richmond 9-3 in the semi-finals to advance to the championship match-up with Buckfield.
In the championship game, Wiscasset jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Grant Hefler hit a lead off single, Brycson Grover reached on a bunt, and Daren Wood singled to load up the bases on Bucks starter Jonah Williams. Chandler Longfellow drove in Hefler with a sacrifice fly to deep left field. Bailey helped his own cause with a RBI ground out, scoring Grover.
The Wolverines added a run in the fourth when Matt Craig hit a lead off triple down the right field line and scored on a passed ball. Wiscasset made it a 4-0 game in the sixth when Craig walked, moved over on a Tyler Flavin fielder’s choice, and scored on a Hefler single.
Buckfield left runners on base in six innings. Every time the Bucks looked to have Bailey backed up against the wall, Wiscasset came up huge on defense.
In the third, Hefler made a diving knock down on the third base line to hold Jon Randolph to a single. The play became huge later on in the inning when Jonah Williams singled and Randolph was held at third.
In the fourth, Bailey picked up three strikeouts, including the final out of the inning with runners on second and third. Wiscasset shortstop Longfellow tracked down a fly ball right/ center field in the fifth to rob Williams and pick up the third out of the inning. Craig ran down a fly ball in center field in the sixth, making a sliding catch to rob Keenan Stockdale of a hit.
Wiscasset ended the bottom of the seventh in grand style. Helfer fielded a ground ball, collided with Bailey and still threw to first to pick up the first out of the inning. Grover made a diving catch at second base for the second out. Bailey handled a routine ground ball and threw to Cas Carr at first for the final out.
Hitting for Wiscasset were Nate Howard, Hefler and Wood with two singles each, Craig a triple, and Carr a single. Hitting for Buckfield were Jared Eastman, Williams,Gerry Gagne, and Randolph with a single each.
Williams went the distance in the loss for Buckfield (8H,5K,4B).