MONMOUTH – Telstar coach Bob Remington turned to August Reiss after the senior center fielder’s three-hit game propelled the Rebels to the Western Class C title game.
“We’re trying to get the (regional final) moved to here,” Remington joked.
There’s something about Chick Field that gets Reiss’ bat going, fence or no fence. Last year, he hit a home run there in a regular season win for the Rebels. Saturday, he stroked three doubles and drove in three runs to lead the Rebels to a 7-5 victory.
No. 3 Telstar will meet top-seeded St. Dom’s for the Western Maine championship at 7 p.m. Wednesday at St. Joseph’s College.
Reiss’ final double proved to be the difference in a see-saw game. With two on and two out in the sixth, he ripped a Ben Seefeldt offering to left-center to break a 5-5 tie.
“I hadn’t seen a curve ball thrown to anybody yet, so I just sat on the fastball and it was right down the middle,” Reiss said.
No. 2 Monmouth (13-4) broke a 1-1 tie in the fourth on Josh Parson’s two-out, two-run double off Telstar starter Josh Longway. The Rebels (12-4) then touched Mustangs starter Scott Ogden for three runs in the fifth on a Longway sacrifice fly and Kevin Zinchuk’s two-out, two-run double to take the lead.
“I told the team before the game that nobody was going to pitch a whole game, for either team,” Remington said. “We finally got to (Ogden) in that fifth inning.”
Monmouth’s Sean Holbrook scored on an error to tie it in the bottom of the fifth, then the Mustangs briefly regained the lead on Andy Bellmore’s squeeze bunt.
Nathan Walker retired the side in the sixth and seventh to pick up the win.
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