BRUNSWICK — With the way Brunswick ace John Parker and Lewiston senior righty Kyle Ullrich were pitching in Tuesday’s Eastern A preliminary baseball game, the biggest fear was if the game was going to get completed before the threatening weather arrived.

But a perfectly-executed slap bunt by Dragons No. 8 hitter Pearson Cost loaded the bases in the seventh, and one hitter later, Cam Berry shook off a rough game by driving Ullrich’s 110th pitch to deep left field for a walk-off sacrifice fly and a 2-1 Brunswick win.

Brunswick (9-8), the No. 8 seed, will visit top-seeded Bangor (14-2) in an Eastern A quarterfinal on Thursday at 4:15 p.m., while the Blue Devils finished 5-12.

Parker was nearly perfect in this one. He allowed just one base runner — Lewiston catcher Brock Belanger — in his masterful seven innings of work. The senior struck out nine and threw just 86 pitches.

“This is a stressful game,” Brunswick coach Luke Potter joked. “It was well-pitched on both sides, and we just couldn’t break through. We missed a couple signs on the base paths, and I just wasn’t sure if we were going to pull this one through. John held them in check, they held us in check.”

On the Lewiston side, Ullrich shook off a tough, 28-pitch first inning when the Dragons scored their first run on a Parker two-out single, and pitched superbly from there. He held Brunswick to just three hits, struck out six and walked five in his final varsity game before heading off to the U.S. Army in August.

“Kyle pitched phenomenal, and you can’t ask for more than that,” Blue Devils first-year coach Andrew Cessario said. “We gave him the ball, knowing it was his last game. Everybody laid it all on the line today.”

In the seventh, Ullrich hit lead-off hitter Zach Meggison with a pitch and walked Will Bessey. Earlier in Cost’s at-bat, Lewiston’s corner infielders charged toward the plate, with Ullrich attempting to pick off Meggison at second. Potter discussed things with Cost, and the Brunswick senior bunted the ball for an infield single to load the bases.

“This is the third time we have played them this season, and playing them that much we have learned some of their plays,” Cost said. “Coach called me over and told me that is what he thought they were going to do. I put it over his head. I was excited to say the least that it dropped right.”

“We told Pearson Cost they were charging and to put it over his head,” said Potter. “We had to have it and it was unconventional.”

Berry, who had struck out in his previous three plate appearances, sent the home fans away happy with his game-winning sacrifice fly.

“He definitely got the better of me the first three times up, but I went up there with the same mentality, be aggressive and try to get it in the air or get a base hit,” Berry said.

Despite Ullrich’s rising pitch total, Cessario felt it was the right decision to stay with the righty.

“We had no reason to pull him, and we ran him out there to see if he could get us out of it. He nearly did,” the Lewiston coach said.

Brunswick leads

Elias Henze walked with one out in the Brunswick first. After a stolen base and a ground ball moved him to third, Parker drove a 3-2 pitch to left-center field for a 1-0 Dragons lead.

On the mound, Parker was dealing. He retired the first nine Lewiston hitters, four by way of the strikeout. But, Belanger, who lined sharply to center field on the game’s first pitch, hustled his way to first base for an infield single to open the fourth. After a wild pitch and a ground ball by Mike Wong moved Belanger to third, Carter Chabot drove a Parker offering to deep center field for a game-tying sacrifice fly.

Parker finished the contest by retiring the final 12 Blue Devils.

Belanger was solid behind the plate for Lewiston. He threw out two Brunswick base runners on steal attempts. Cessario was proud of the way his young Blue Devils rallied to make the postseason.

“From where we started at the season’s beginning, with people saying we would not win a single game, I am really happy with the way we grew,” Cessario said. “We dug down deep, and we knew that we were still in this thing. They won three of the last five and I am proud of them.”

Brunswick meets the Rams, a team the Dragons lost to 4-3 on May 4 in Brunswick.

“We know what we are getting ourselves into, and that is comforting,” Potter said. “That is a good baseball team. We are definitely the underdogs, but I believe in us. If we play our baseball game, we will win on Thursday.”

Copy the Story Link