RUMFORD — Pastime has been waiting to break out and play up to the potential it has accrued drawing talented baseball players from four Lewiston-area schools.

With a solid mix of pitching, hitting and defense, it showed all of the signs of breaking out in Thursday’s 11-0 win over Rumford Post 24.

Three Pastime pitchers combined on a two-hit shutout and the offense made Rumford pay for seven errors with eight hits to even its record to 2-2. Rumford drops to 0-4.

Hunter Landry, Ethan Brown and Josh Murphy combined for the shutout. When they weren’t issuing the 10 strikeouts they each chipped in on, they were relying on their defense, particularly the infield defense (seven groundball outs), which was flawless behind them.

“When we all show up, I think we’re a good team,” said Brown, who picked up the win with three perfect innings of relief that included six strikeouts.

Landry got the start and allowed a walk in the first and a one-out single to Tyler Hill in the second. The lefty promptly picked Hill off of first and finished with three strikeouts in his three innings of work.

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Brown, a righty, took over in the fourth and got a couple of groundouts, then went on to fan six of the final seven Rumford batters he faced.

“My fastball was working. I just wanted to work ahead and stay ahead,” Brown said. “They fielded the ball well behind me. No errors today. That’s always helpful.”

“Like Brownie said, we’re just a little rusty,” said Pastime coach Chris Reed, whose team draws players from Lewiston, Edward Little, Lisbon and Oak Hill. “Some of these guys came off of some pretty emotional ends to their (high school) season and they’re just starting to get dialed back in, which is good. The whole plan tonight was to not only try to get a win here but get some of the guys back slotted back in where they feel comfortable.”

Murphy relieved Brown in the seventh and worked around Rumford’s other hit, a one-out single by Dylan Desroches, and preserved the shutout with a flyout and Pastime pitching’s 10th strikeout of the day to end it.

A pair of Rumford errors in the first led to the game’s first run, which was Brown sending Landry home with a sacrifice fly.

Pastime added two more with a two-out rally in the second off Rumford starter Will Bean. Brodi Farinas got it going with a walk. A single by Murphy and walk to Brock Belanger (two hits) loaded the bases for Landry, who drilled a 3-1 pitch into the left-centerfield gap to drive in a pair.

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“When we’re all here and we’re all engaged, we can be as good as anybody,” Reed said. “There’s no shortage of talent in this crew.”

Three more Rumford errors and an RBI single by Farinas off of reliever Hunter Ames made it 6-0 in the third.

Cole Brown relieved Ames and, with some defensive support, quieted Pastime’s bats with two innings of shutout work, allowing only one walk.

“Cole did a really nice job,” Rumford coach Steve LaPointe said. “I’m not disappointed at all. I’m just glad we’re out there playing.”

“We knew going in we were going to be playing Class A schools,” said LaPointe, whose team draws from Mountain Valley, Dirigo and Telstar high schools. “We knew that going in. We see great pitching all of the time but you’re only going to improve seeing that kind of pitching.”

Pastime piled three more runs on in the sixth, highlighted by Brown’s two-run single, and two in the seventh, with Caleb Valliere and Belanger providing RBI singles.

Rumford’s Tyler Hill comes to a screeching stop as he realizes he is picked off first base during Thursday’s game in Rumford as Pastime’s Ethan Brown waits for the ball to arrive. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal


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