EL’s Matt Bennett tosses a two-hitter and Brandon Elie goes 3-for-4 at the plate.
LEWISTON – Edward Little had been waiting for what seemed like an eternity to play its first game. Lewiston already had a couple of games under its belt, including a win.

So when Edward Little and Lewiston renewed their rivalry on the diamond for the first time in their new league Saturday, one team was bound to look sharper than the other.

The Red Eddies were the ones who pitched, hit and fielded more crisply, winning their season opener over the Blue Devils, 7-2 at Franklin Pasture.

Matt Bennett tossed a two-hit complete game and Brandon Elie went 3-for-4 and scored two runs in a game that was originally washed out last Wednesday.

“We’ve been chomping at the bit to finally play a game and Matt had to wait a few extra days,” said EL coach Scott Annear. “He took a lot of pride and effort into getting himself prepared and he did a great job.”

Bennett (eight Ks, one walk) struck out at least one in each inning, finishing Lewiston batters off with breaking pitches early, then freezing them with his fastball in the later innings.

“My fastball was around the plate and (catcher) Nick (Taylor) was setting up in nice spots. I was hitting the corners and my breaking balls were very good,” Bennett said.

The senior hurler also benefited from some solid defense behind him. EL made just two errors compared to five by Lewiston as left fielder Brian Erickson and Elie at shortstop both made nice diving catches in shallow left field to frustrate the Devils.

“All around we played very well. We had people diving in the outfield, going all out. It was good to see,” Bennett said.

“Great pitching and good defense, you can’t separate the two,” Annear said. Indeed, Lewiston (1-2) got a first-hand lesson on that equation in the top of the first when a pair of errors allowed two unearned runs to score on a Taylor single.

The Blue Devils answered back with a pair of their own in the bottom of the frame as Ben Mendelson scored on a passed ball and David Kell, who reached base three times for the Devils, tied the game on a Nate Gruz ground out.

Bennett would shut the door from there, however, not allowing a hit while retiring 16 of the next 18 Devils before Phil Chaput reached on an infield single in the seventh. Both of EL’s errors came with two outs and proved harmless.

“When we scored our two runs, we got somebody on early and put some people in motion and it’s amazing what can happen when you do that,” Lewiston coach Don King said. “But when you don’t get guys on, it’s kind of hard to put them over a barrel.”

The Eddies didn’t exactly tear the cover off the ball against Lewiston lefty starter Zack Timmerman (five innings, six runs, two earned, seven hits) in the two-run first. But then the Eddies started making solid contact in the third, taking the lead for good on Justin Ciszewski’s RBI double.

Kyle Smith added a two-run single in the fourth and scored on another Lewiston error to make it 6-2. The Eddies plated another unearned run in the seventh off reliever Andrew Boulanger.