Bangor baseball survives Skowhegan rally to earn 7-6 Class A North victory

BANGOR, Maine — The Bangor High School Rams built a 7-2 lead with four, two-out run-producing hits and then received 2 ⅓ innings of scoreless relief from junior righthander Landen Parizo to hold off Skowhegan and post a 7-6 Class A North victory at a chilly Mansfield Stadium on Thursday afternoon.

Bangor improved to 5-2 entering a Friday game at Class B Old Town while Skowhegan fell to 5-4 entering a 3:30 game at Class B Lawrence of Fairfield on Friday.

Lawrence is 9-0 and Old Town is 6-1 and has won six in a row.

“It was a team effort,” said Bangor coach Dave Morris, whose team hadn’t played since May 3 and began a stretch of six games in seven days.

“The guys came up with some timely hits, (starting pitcher) Kyle Johnson wasn’t at his best at the beginning but he came through when we needed him the most and Landen Parizo did a great job as he has all year,” Morris added.

Skowhegan jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on an error by the first baseman, Noah McMahon’s line drive single to right center, a groundout and two run-producing wild pitches.

Three walks loaded the bases but left fielder Geo Socolow got the Rams out of the jam by catching a fly ball and gunning runner Jason Aubin out at the plate with a perfect one-hop throw.

“I didn’t think (Aubin) was going to go but he ended up tagging up so I just fired it. It was a one-hop throw and (catcher Jack Schuck) was able to make the tag,” said Socolow.

Socolow impacted the game at the plate in the third when Bangor scored four times to take a 4-2 lead.

Gavin Glanville-True led off the inning with a walk off senior righthander Brayden Bellerose.

Yates Emerson followed with an infield single behind the mound and Schuck sacrificed the runners to second and third.

Johnson drew a walk to load the bases.

A popup produced the second out but Socolow tied it up by bouncing a two-run single between the first and second baseman into right field.

“I read fastball out of (Bellerose’s) hand,” said Socolow. “I was still a little jumpy so I ended up hitting it out in front but I was able to put it in play and sneak it past the first and second baseman.”

Ethan Sproul walked before Jack Earl poked a single into short right center to deliver Johnson and Socolow.

Bangor added three more in the fourth.

Emerson singled to center with one out, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Johnson’s long two-out double to left center.

Two walks loaded the bases and Sproul knocked in two runs with an infield single off a slow  bounding ball that glanced off the shortstop.

Skowhegan rallied for four runs in the fifth to pull within one.

Sophomore righty Johnson settled down nicely after the first inning and pitched three innings of hitless, shutout ball leading into the fifth.

He retired the first hitter but McMahon grounded a single to left and Brendan Dunlap was hit by a pitch.

Sophomore lefty Matt O’Connell came on in relief and walked the first two hitters he faced to force in a run.

Silas Tibbetts hit a sacrifice fly to right that was dropped by right fielder Teddy Stephenson.

But Stephenson alertly retrieved the ball and threw to second for a forceout.

O’Connell then hit Trevor Austin with a pitch to force in another run.

Parizo came on to replace O’Connell and Tyler Clark greeted him with a two-run line drive single to left that landed just a few feet inside the foul line.

Parizo got out of the inning by inducing a ground ball and he retired the next four hitters he faced before Jackson Hight singled with one out in the seventh.

But Parizo struck out the next hitter and got Austin on a deep fly ball to right to end the game.

“It feels great to have such a great defense behind me,” said Parizo, who features a fastball and a curve and said he was satisfied with his outing.

“It always could be better but I’m glad we got the win,” said Parizo.

“He came in and closed the door,” said Skowhegan coach Mike LeBlanc, a former standout closer at the University of Maine. “He answered everything we threw at him so hats off to him.”

Shortstop Emerson made a number of nice plays including a gem off Austin to lead off the seventh inning.

Emerson ranged deep into the shortstop hole, backhanded the ball and made a strong throw to first to get Aubin.

“(Yates) is very good. He makes every play,” said LeBlanc. “He’s consistent but they’ve always been like that. They don’t make many errors. They’re well-coached.

“We competed. It’s always a close game with Bangor. We know Bangor is going to compete every pitch, every play. They’re going to put the ball in play. They’re a fun team to play against,” LeBlanc added.

Johnson doubled and singled for Bangor and Emerson had two singles.

McMahon singled twice for Skowhegan and center fielder Chance Tibbetts made the play of the game with a full-stretch diving catch to rob Emerson of a hit in the fifth.