LIVERMORE FALLS – What varsity pitching experience Jay hoped to have this season transferred either out of state or across the town line well before this spring, so the Tigers were already down in the count when they met their rivals, defending Western C champion Jay, on a summer-like Saturday afternoon.

The sophomore-laden Tigers played down to their inexperience on the mound and in the field and helped one of their former pitchers make a case for a spot in Livermore Falls’ battle-tested rotation. Livermore Falls scored six unearned runs in the first inning and cruised to a 13-1 win over Jay in a game cut off after five innings due to the 10-run mercy rule.

The Andies (2-0) took advantage of five Tiger errors and two hit batsmen to take command in the first inning. Derrick Castonguay delivered their only hit of the inning, a two-run single.

Kyle Stebbins added an RBI single in the second. In the third, Shawn Whiting went with a low-and-outside pitch and poked an opposite-field double that scored Castonguay to make it 8-0. Chandler White followed with a two-run homer that just cleared the center field fence, and the rout was on. Alex Rose added an RBI single in the fourth.

Livermore Falls scored its 13 runs on just seven hits.

“They made a few mistakes defensively and we capitalized on that,” Livermore Falls coach Brian Dube said. “We hit the ball all right.”

James McLamb, who quite possibly could have been Jay’s ace if he hadn’t traded in his orange-and-black for the rival green-and-gold this year, took the win. The junior southpaw, who is battling Chandler White for the No. 3 spot in Livermore’s rotation, surrendered an unearned run and three hits while fanning eight and walking three in five innings.

“I told James he’d stay in as long as he stayed ahead and worked ahead in the count,” Dube said. “He got a little tired towards the end, but he wanted to stay with it. I thought he did well for his first time out.”

“I had my fastball working, mainly,” McLamb said. “My curve was hanging early, but I maintained my fastball pretty good.”

McLamb made a good first impression on his teammates with his bat in Thursday’s 9-7 extra innings triumph over Dirigo, getting three hits and driving home what proved to be the winning run.

“I’m looking to do what I can to help out,” said McLamb, a junior. “I was pretty excited about coming over here.”

“We slipped him into the two slot in the order and I told him if he could come through with some hits, there was a possibility he might stay there, which would allow us to keep Willie (Brown) at three,” Dube said. “If James can develop into our No. 3, it will allow us to keep Chandler at short, and he’s a real good athlete, so that makes us quite a bit better defensively.”

Kyle Storer scored the lone run Jay (1-1) in the second, reaching on a single and advancing on a pair of Andies’ errors before scoring on a passed ball. Storer was one of three Tigers who made their varsity pitching debut Saturday, along with Jake Lord and Eli Capen.

“We have no pitching experience,” Jay coach Chris Bessey said. “The guy who started the first game for us (Kyle DeMillo, in a 13-2 thumping of Mt. Abram), that was his first varsity game. The three guys that went today it was their first varsity game. We’re young and we’ve just got to make sure we stay focused.”