DIXFIELD — It is true that a team can’t count on winning very many games when it commits seven errors.

But as Dirigo found out at Harlow Park Friday, the odds of victory increase when your opponent commits four costly miscues of its own and your shortstop ends the game with a great rally-snuffing catch.

The Cougars overcame their seven errors thanks to two-run singles by Brian Volkernick and Tyler Frost that broke a 6-6 tie in the fifth. Then they held off Winthrop’s hopes of a comeback when Frost robbed Cabot Lancaster of a single with a leaping catch to preserve a 10-7 win.

“I don’t know if I’ve seen an uglier game,” Dirigo coach Ryan Palmer said. “I will say this: Every time we play Winthrop, it’s never easy. No matter what our records are or anything, when I see Winthrop on the schedule, it scares me because crazy stuff always happens.”

Amidst the craziness, Volkernick (three RBIs) and Nick Hall led Dirigo (5-1) with two hits apiece. Ben Caprara and Zach Steele each reached base four times for Winthrop (3-2).

The teams combined for 10 of their 11 errors in the first four innings to end up where they started, in a tie. Some of the mistakes were drops on routine pop ups and routine throws and some off-target throws. But the all-dirt infield, rendered uneven by rain that moved through just before game time, also produced numerous tough  hops and had infielders playing back on their heels much of the day.

“You lose your depth perception out there,” said Winthrop assistant coach Dave Morin, filling in for head coach Marc Fortin, who was attending his daughter’s college graduation. “We had a couple of errors, obviously, but I think mentally we were in the game. That’s all you can ask for.”

Pitchers Ben Allen of Winthrop and Dirigo’s Kaine Hutchins could have used more help from their defense, but both were also hit hard at times.

Jack Brown put the Cougars up 1-0 with an RBI single in the first, but the Ramblers got three back in the second thanks to four Dirigo errors, including two dropped pop-ups.

The Ramblers returned the favor, and the lead, with two errors in the bottom of the frame, then gave up another unearned run in the third to make it 6-3 Cougars.

Winthrop put the pressure right back on Dirigo with some aggressive base running in the third and tied the game with the help of two more errors and singles by Zach Steele and Jared Hanson.

“We haven’t been hitting the ball. Today we started hitting the ball a little better,” said Morin, whose team finished with seven hits. “We used our speed a little bit and I thought we ran the bases pretty well. We made them feel a little uncomfortable, which is what we were trying to do.”

Dirigo’s winning rally got off to a strange start in the fifth when Anthony Todd found the gap in right-center field for what appeared to be a triple. He was sent back to second when umpires ruled that the ball went out of play after rolling through an opening in the fence for a ground-rule double.

It appeared the change would cost the Cougars because Todd was subsequently thrown out by catcher Dakota Carter while trying to advance to third on a pitch in the dirt. But a walk to Hall and singles by Mitch Kubesh and Gavin Arsenault loaded the bases with two out, setting up Volkernick and Frost’s back-to-back RBI singles.

“One thing about Dirigo baseball, we never give up. We keep grinding,” Palmer said. “We’ve gotten a lot of wins doing that.”

Kubesh relieved Hutchins for the seventh and was the victim of Dirigo’s last error, on a ground ball by Carter, who eventually came around to score Winthrop’s seventh run. But Frost, who moved from catcher to shortstop to replace Kubesh, redeemed himself and kept the potential tying run in the on-deck circle by climbing the ladder for the final out.

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