Old Orchard Beach, ME – CMCC Baseball captured what could prove to be a crucial win for the YSCC playoff picture, knocking off York County Community College on the road, 10-5. The Mustangs took until halfway through the game to get their first run on the board, but pulled away late to secure the win, moving them up to second place in the conference standings.
"It was a great team win against a quality opponent," said head coach Ryan Palmer. "We got fantastic pitching out of Kyle (Delano) and Teddy (McFarland). It took a few innings, but our offense finally hit the ball like we know they can. Good baseball from the team all around."
Kyle Delano got the ball to start the game and pitched seven strong innings before being relieved by Teddy McFarland. He did struggle a little out of the gate in the bottom of the first. Cameron Early led off with a walk for YCCC followed by Caden Fontaine with a single. Jack Sullivan then brought them both around to score with a line drive into center field. Delano bounced back to strike out Caden Petit before inducing two groundouts to end the inning.
Andrew Gray was lights out on the mound, pitching three straight one-two-three innings to keep the Mustangs' bats silent. But York's 2-0 lead evaporated in the fifth. Cody Cleaveland walked and stole second to get into scoring position. Catcher Zac Gorman plated him with a line drive into left before Steven White replaced him at first base as a courtesy runner. Ryan Stone's ground ball led to an error by Sullivan at shortstop, putting White on third. Lee Robertson then brought him home to tie the game on a sac-fly.
Brady Doherty came on in relief to pitch the sixth inning for York, allowing the go-ahead run on a Jake Calver RBI groundout that scored Hayden Durrell. The real damage was done in the seventh. Gorman, Robertson, and Brandon Gour loaded the bases with singles. White scored for the second time on Durrell's sacrifice fly to right field before Garren Post cleared the bases with a two-RBI double into left.
Brady Vincent drove him in on a line drive RBI single, and after Calver reached on an error, Shane Jewett brought them both around to score with a ground ball through the left side of the infield. When Gorman grounded out to end the inning, the Mustangs had broken the game open by batting around the order and scoring six times for a 9-2 lead.
The Hawks loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning to threaten an offensive breakthrough of their own. Petit was hit by a pitch to bring one run home, but Delano got Jase Bade to pop out to first to end the threat. The sophomore pitcher from Sabattus, ME ended his day with three earned runs on nine hits with seven strikeouts.
The Mustangs had a chance to put the game away in the eighth but left the bases load. Jewett scored in the top of the ninth to make it 10-3, scoring on yet another Gorman line drive. McFarland then finished things off in the bottom half of the inning, but not before Petit drove in two runs to cut the score to 10-5.
The game played at The Ballpark in OOB was a chance for Central Maine to play at the site of next weekend's YSCC Championships. CMCC improves to 22-12 overall and 9-4 in conference play with the win. The Mustangs trail only rival SMCC in the standings with the Seawolves sitting at 11-3. The two sides face each other on Thursday, April 24th in South Portland.
