Both the JV and Varisty baseball teams will be recognized on Monday, June 29th at 5:30 p.m. in the John Bapst Auditorium. Becky Wetherbee is coordinating the appetizers for the event. We hope you all can make it.
In a battle between 2 very even teams, the #10 Rockland Tigers scored 2 runs in the 8th inning to defeat #7 John Bapst, 3-1 in a Class B East preliminary playoff game held Tuesday at the Winkin Complex. The Crusaders were down 1-0 until the bottom of the 7th inning when Chase Huckstein led off the inning with a single. After Miles Gagnon walked and then was called out later at first base, Ryan Carr singled Huckstein home to tie the game at 1. In the extra inning, Beal singled and scored on a triple by Morrill that Derek Smith dove for and nearly caught. Morrill scored on a well-executed 'suicide squeeze' play to make it 3-1. Nick Pooler was able to single in bottom half of the 8th but was left stranded. Chris Hammond had another outstanding performance going all 8 innings on the mound, giving up 5 hits, and striking out 6. Offensively for JB: Pooler was 2 for 3 with a sacrifice bunt. Casey Hull singled, Bill Wetherbee singled, Chase Huckstein singled and scored, Miles Gagnon had a single, and Ryan Carr was 2 for 3 with the only rbi for JB. John Bapst ends their season with a very respectable 10-6-1 record. Best of luck to all our seniors (Nick Pooler, Tyler Chamberlain, Miles Gagnon, Derek Smith, Chase Huckstein, Casey Hull, Matt Duplisea, Doug Dieuveuil, and Luke Cunningham) in the future!
The John Bapst Crusaders defeated the Central Red Devils on Tuesday afternoon, 7-3. It was JB's 10th win on the season to go with 5 losses and a tie. Chris Hammond was the winning pitcher, going 7 innings, giving up 6 hits, walking one, and striking out 8. Bapst will now wait for the final Heal Points to be calculated to see who and where they play next. The first round of playoff games begin on June 9. Offensively for Bapst: Nick Pooler had 2 walks, Matt Duplisea walked and singled in a run. Casey Hull was 1 for 5 with a run scored and 2 stolen bases. Chase Huckstein had a big day going 3 for 4 with 2 triples, 2 runs scored and an rbi. Miles Gagnon had 2 sacrifice flies for 2 rbi's, walked and scored. Ryan Carr was 1 for 3 with a walk, stolen base, and run scored. Chris Hammond was 2 for 4 with a double, rbi, and scored twice (one with JMcB as pinch runner). Adam Leadbetter walked 3 times on the day also. Derek Smith had the catch of the game on a sinking line drive to left field that he caught off his shoe tops. Snow cone anyone? Stay tuned for playoffs! ***Friday's practice at Husson- Seniors from 2:30-3:30, rest of squad from 3:30 on.
On Senior Day at the Winkin Complex on Saturday morning, the JB seniors came out swinging against the Hermon Hawks and cruised to a 17-2 victory in 5 innings. Nick Pooler hit the first pitch he saw up the middle, the sun burst out of the clouds, and the Crusaders plated 11 first inning runs to put the Hawks away early. All the seniors started today's game and they made the most of their appearances. Pooler went 2 for 4 with 2 runs, 2 rbi, and 2 stolen bases. Matt Duplisea was 2 for 3 with a triple, 3 runs scored and a walk. Casey Hull was 2 for 3 with 3 runs scored, 2 rbi., a HB, and stolen base. Chase Huckstein was 2 for 2 with 4 rbi, a triple, a walk, and 2 runs scored. Miles Gagnon was 2 for 3 with a triple, 2 rbi, and 2 runs scored. Derek Smith walked, was hit by a pitch, scored and pitched the final inning setting down the Hawks in order with one strikout. Tyler Chamberlain also doubled and had an rbi in the 4th inning. Doug Dieuveuil made solid contact on three groundouts. Bill Wetherbee had a big day as well: single, double, triple, walk, 4 runs scored, and 2rbi. Matt Storgaard also singled and scored in the final inning. (Remember all of this was done in just 4 innings...maybe we should have put some in the 'bank.')
Jason McBurnie picked up his 5th win on the season going 4 innings, giving up 4 hits, no walks, while striking out 2. Both runs given up were unearned. Congratulations JB on your 9th win of the season. (9-5-1)
In what felt more like a playoff game, 2 of Eastern Maine's top class B teams battled with their aces on the mound, and John Bapst came up on the short end by the score of 1-0. Chris Hammond wasincredible all afternoon. After a 1st inning error, he set down 15 Eagle batters in a row, not allowing a hit until one out in the 6th inning. After a leadoff walk, a fielder's choice and ground out, Ellsworth's pitcher Pat Kelly tripled home the only run of the game (also the only hit on the day for the Eagles). Hammond had the Eagles' batters hitting the ball into the turf, getting 13 ground ball outs. He struck out 5 and walked just one. Chris is now 2-3 on the season. Certainly his record does not reflect the quality of his starts all season long. He lowered his ERA to a miniscule 1.58! (unofficial of course) Offensively, John Bapst had a difficult time against one of the top pitchers they've faced all season. JB had 4 hits and walked twice. The game ended in exciting fashion as Bill Wetherbee led off the 7th with a single. After Huckstein popped out to short, Ryan Carr hit a ball to shortstop with Bill running on the play. Carr was out and Wetherbee was now on 2nd with 2 outs. Miles Gagnon came up and hit what appeared to be a game tying single in the hole between shortstop and 3rd base. SS-Brad Folmer made a diving stop and Wetherbee was already rounding 3rd and headed for home. Folmer made a throw from deep in the hole and got Wetherbee at the plate to end the game. What a finish! Offensively: Casey Hull walked (and had 6 nice assists from his shortstop position on defense), Chase Huckstein singled, Bill Wetherbee singled, and Miles Gagnon hit the ball hard all day and finished with 2 singles. Ryan Carr also contributed a nice sacrifice bunt in the 2nd inning. JBapst is now 8-5-1 going into Saturday morning's game vs. Hermon (at Husson) 10:30 A.M. start. Don't forget it's also Senior Day! We hope all the moms and dads of our senior players can make the game as we will have special presentations to make to the players and their parents during the pre-game. Also don't forget our team dinner on Friday night at 6:30 for both the JV and Varsity teams. We'll have a short booster's meeting as well.
Today's Heal Points show that the Bucksport Golden Bucks are the #1 ranked baseball team in Class B East. The Bucks appeared formidable early as they pounded out 8 hits and scored 6 runs in the 2nd inning to build an early 6-1 lead. John Bapst did not roll over and chipped away making it 7-6 Bucksport into the 6th inning. The Bucks scored 2 more (unearned) runs in the bottom half of the sixth to make it 9-6 and JB could not come back in the 7th. It was a gallant effort by the Bapst boys who could've easily given up early in this one but they fought back and made it an exciting game to watch. Jason McBurnie went 3 innings before giving way to Chris Hammond in the 4th. Hammond struck out 2 while giving up 3 unearned runs the rest of the way. Nick Pooler hit a 2-run home run in the sixth to spark the comeback. Nick was 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored and 2 rbi. Matt Duplisea was 2 for 4 with 2 more rbi. Casey Hull was 2 for 4, Bill Wetherbee-1 for 4, run scored, SB. Miles Gagnon walked once. Ryan Carr was on base all afternoon; he went 2 for 2 with 2 walks, and 2 runs scored. Adam Leadbetter had an rbi on a FC and scored a run. Jason McBurnie had a nice bunt single as well. JB is now 8-4-1 going into a Thursday matchup with #3 Ellsworth. John Bapst was ranked #5 going into today's game. Another great effort boys!
