Old Orchard Beach, ME – The #2 seeded CMCC Baseball team punched its ticket to the YSCC Tournament championship game with a 5-2 win over #1 SMCC on Thursday night at The Ballpark in OOB. Lee Robertson went 3-for-3 at the plate with an RBI and a run scored and Teddy McFarland pitched a complete-game victory to put the Mustangs in the title game for the third time in four years.
"SMCC is very good, they're the #1 seed for a reason, and we knew what we had to do," head coach Ryan Palmer said in his postgame interview. "We knew that come playoff time it's all about pitching and defense, and boy, we had Kyle Delano yesterday and Teddy today play great. We always say baseball is so much easier when your pitchers can get ahead in the count and you're not always fighting from behind. Especially today, Teddy got ahead in the count, controlled the game, and hit his spots. It was a lot of fun to watch."
The Mustangs took the lead early, scoring three runs in the top of the second off YSCC Pitcher of the Year Max Noto. Zac Gorman got some luck to lead things off when he hit a towering pop-up that looked like it would go for the first out. The catcher from Australia not only ran it out but sprinted the whole way and was nearly at second when the ball fell to the dirt on an error by shortstop Tyler Herkalo. Ryan Stone then drove him in with a sac-fly to right field for a 1-0 lead.
Robertson reached with a single and Brandon Gour worked a walk to put two on base. YSCC All-Conference Honorable Mention Garren Post then brought them both around to score when the first baseman hit a fly ball into right that dropped for an error, making it 3-0 Central Maine.
The score stayed the same all the way through the fifth inning. McFarland and Noto were both lights out, allowing just one hit each over the next three innings. The CMCC pitcher from Hudson, MA kept Southern Maine off balance with a majority of his first pitches going for strikes.
In the sixth, the Mustangs added two more to take a commanding 5-0 lead. Cody Cleaveland, another YSCC All-Conference selection, singled through the left side and Gorman moved him into scoring position with a sac-bunt. Ryan Stone then brought him across the plate when he lined a double into left field, before getting to third on a wild pitch. Robertson drove him in with a lined shot the opposite way, bringing Noto's day on the mound to a close.
SMCC would not go quietly into the elimination game though. In the bottom half of the inning, leadoff hitter Aaron Whitman singled up the middle and stole second base. With two outs, Herkalo also lined a shot to center field to get one run in, and Alex Bean did the same to make it 5-2 with one inning to play.
Cleaveland picked up his second hit of the game in the seventh, but the Mustangs could not get any more offense going. McFarland made it a moot point by retiring the side in order, first with two groundouts to second base before striking out Dante Tocci to end the game.
With the win, Central Maine advances to Saturday's YSCC Championship game. There they'll face archrival Southern Maine again after the Seawolves defeated York County 8-5 in the elimination game later that night to set up the rematch. The double elimination format means the Mustangs will need just one victory to clinch the conference crown whereas SMCC will have to beat CMCC twice in back-to-back nine-inning games. The champion will advance to the USCAA World Series in Dubois, PA via the conference's automatic bid.
The Mustangs are looking for only their second YSCC Tournament victory in program history and their first since winning the title 15 years ago in the 2009-10 season. Saturday's start time has been moved up to try and avoid the rain expected later in the day. First pitch is scheduled for 10:00 am at The Ballpark.
