LEWISTON —  Luke Cote got a good look at Mt. Ararat pitcher Torrey Charnock’s curve ball to start the first inning.

Charnock froze Cote with the hook his first time up, but Lewiston’s leadoff hitter found a way to wait out the Eagles’ right-hander, then drive him to distraction on the base paths, as the Blue Devils grinded their way to a 5-2 win at Franklin Pasture on Friday.

Charnock struck out two of the first three Lewiston batters, then suffered a quick bout of wildness to the plate and the bases that proved costly once the Blue Devils got the timing of his breaking stuff down.

“We had to get our foot down early, because he’s throwing curve balls left and right,” Cote said. “Just get our foot down and drive it up the middle.”

Corbin Hyde, meanwhile, ducked out of a jittery first inning before settling in for an impressive four-hit complete game. He also helped his own cause by reaching base three times and scoring a run.

Lewiston (2-0) knocked six hits, all singles. In two games to start the season, the Blue Devils have just one extra base hit among their 15 total — Hyde’s home run in the opener against Brunswick. But coach Todd Cifelli isn’t one to wait around for his bats to start booming, which they eventually will.

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“It’s the old Deering High School/Nova Seafood formula, put pressure on the defense and see if they can make plays,”  Cifelli said. “Especially early in the season, that’s very hard to do with limited time outside. We have some athletes, and I think that’s going to help our offense get going.”

The Blue Devils stole six bases and forced two errant pickoff throws by Charnock.

“We just wanted to get on base one at a time and attack the bases,” Cote said.

They started getting on base on back-to-back singles by Jeff Keene and Hyde to start the second inning. Keene stole second, then advanced to third and home on wild pitches for a 1-0 lead. Hyde also stole second and advanced to third on Charnock’s first wild pitch, then scored on Ben Wigant’s ground out to double the lead.

Lewiston doubled the lead again in the third. Cote led off with a single, went to second on Charnock’s wild pickoff try, to third on a grounder and scored on Mekae Hyde’s single. Hyde later came around to score on Joe Sullivan’s sacrifice fly to make it 4-0.

Corbin Hyde (seven innings, four hits, 10 Ks, four walks, two hit batters, one earned run) escaped a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the first, then retired nine of the next 11 Eagles hitters.

Lewiston added an unearned run in the sixth. Ararat put at least two runners on in each of the final three innings, but Hyde buckled down when he needed to, yielding two runs in the fifth on Charnak’s RBI double and an error.

“We’re winning some baseball games with strong pitching early on,” said Cifelli, whose team got a complete game from Sullivan in Wednesday’s 8-2 win at Brunswick. “Corbin was a beast on the mound today.”


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