Grand slam headlines Bangor-Old Town slugfest

Two of northern Maine’s top baseball teams went at it on Friday night in Old Town, as the Bangor Rams overpowered the Coyotes 14-9 in entertaining fashion.

Bangor (now 6-2) and Old Town (now 6-2) combined for 18 walks and 20 hits on Friday, including a first-inning grand slam for Bangor sophomore Scott Sockabasin, and a fifth-inning, three-run homer for Old Town freshman Tyler Priest.

Sockabasin’s (2-for-2, five RBIs, two intentional walks) dinger to left field was the second of his career and fueled a five-run first inning for the Rams.

“I went up there hunting the heater, and I got it — I got all of it,” Sockabasin said. “It got us pumped up. We started the game out hot.”

In the second, the Rams turned two walks, a single and a passed ball into two more runs, extending their lead to 7-0. Yet Old Town — averaging just four runs scored per game entering Friday’s contest — never waved the white flag and proceeded to gradually chip away at Bangor’s lead.

Old Town plated senior Jackson Lizotte (1-for-3, one double) in the second and senior Aiden Gomm in the third, before senior Preston Vose (2-for-5) hit a bases-loaded single in the fourth to suddenly cut Bangor’s lead to 8-5.

The Rams responded with three two-out runs in the top of the fifth inning — with the help of RBI singles from sophomore Kyle Johnson (2-for-4, one walk) and senior Geo Socolow (1-for-4, two RBIs, one walk) — but Priest (1-for-3, four RBIs) returned the favor with his three-run jack in the bottom half of the frame.

“We fought back against a great Class A team. We grinded every single at-bat, made little adjustments, and fought right back,” Old Town head coach Justin Crisafulli said. “[Our guys] know they’re a good team now. They have that validation that they can play with the best of them.”

In the sixth inning, Priest (4.1 innings, three earned runs, nine strikeouts) and Bangor sophomore reliever Lucas Rutherford (two innings, one earned run) temporarily cooled down the bats, before the Rams scored three more insurance runs in the seventh.

Sophomore Ethan Sproul (2-for-5) did the honors for Bangor, smacking a two-out RBI double to right, scoring Johnson and Sockabasin to make it 13-8.

Sockabasin later scored on an error at short, and Old Town would score once in the ninth before Rutherford finally closed out the game.

“I’m just proud of our guys. Old Town’s a good team, and Scottie gave us that big boost,” Bangor head coach Dave Morris said. “Our relievers are doing their jobs. We’ve got some young, blue-collar guys that are working hard, and they’re coming through.”