LEWISTON — Lewiston got to Brunswick’s bullpen and pulled out a come-from-behind, 11-6 win in a KVAC baseball game Thursday evening at Joseph Deschenes Field.
“We knew they played a couple of games this week and maybe if we could get the starter out of the game, they may be a little thin on pitching,” Lewiston coach Chris Reed said.
After Wyatt Aceto pitched five solid innings, leaving with a 6-4 lead, Lewiston rallied in the bottom of the sixth, facing reliever Ben Perry. Pinch-hitter Matt Levasseur singled to left and Brayden Beaule pinch-ran for him. After a Lonnie Thomas walk, Ethan Blue laid down a bunt and an overthrow to first allowed Beaule to score.
Perry’s night ended when he walked Daniel Pelletier to load the bases. Allan Swan came in and walked Michael Caron to bring home a run to tie the game. Jeffrey Randall got hit by a pitch to bring in Blue and give the Blue Devils the lead.
Payson Goyette beat out a play at first as the ball went down the right-field line to bring home three runs for a 10-6 lead.
“I was trying to get there, I knew it was going to be close,” Goyette said of beating out the play. “Safe or out, there was a run scoring.”
Goyette reached third and Dylan Blue’s sacrifice fly brought him home for an 11-6 advantage.
Lewiston (5-7) reliever Joe Dube got the Dragons (5-6) out in order in the top of the seventh.
Dube came on in the fourth for Thomas.
“We can’t forget out Joe Dube coming in and giving us an opportunity to chip and blow it open when we got the opportunity,” Reed said. “A lot of credit goes to Joe.”
Lewiston’s starter, Thomas, got out of a first-inning jam when he gave up a single, walked a batter, and hit a batter. No damage was done as an Aceto fly ball to center was caught to end the inning.
Caron drove in the first run for the Blue Devils when his triple to right drove in Pelletier — who reached first on a hit-by-pitch. Caron scored on a wild pitch for a 2-0 advantage.
“We knew we had to get the runs, get up early,” Caron said. “That’s how we play our game, we play our best when we are up. That gave us the confidence later in the game.”
Lewiston had a chance to knock in two more with runners in scoring position, but Aceto recorded a strikeout to end the first.
“Last two games, we got off to really good starts and we hadn’t sustained it,” Reed said. “Today we were able to get something going again later in the game — that was the difference.”
Bo Marini got the Dragons on the board in the top of the second. After drawing a walk, he stole second base when Tyler Maxim struck out. On a Ben Perry groundout, Marini took third and the throw to the bag went to foul territory, allowing Marini to score.
Aceto got out of a jam in the bottom of the second when he gave up back-to-back singles to Thomas and Ethan Blue with one out. Aceto got Pelletier to pop out and struck out Caron.
Aceto helped his cause when he had an RBI single with the bases loaded in the top of the third to tie the game at 2-2 with one out. Marini walked to bring home another run for Brunswick. Thomas got the next two batters out to end the threat.
“Wyatt, who’s a freshman, pitched incredible for five innings,” Brunswick coach Matt Aceto said. “We had too many guys on bases that didn’t score. They had too many guys on the bases who did score.”
After singles by Jimmy Cook and Liam Scholl, Anthony Cooley drove them home with a double to deep center for a 5-2 Brunswick lead in the fourth. After Noah Gaghan got hit by a pitch, it was the end of the night for Thomas. Dube came on in relief, striking out two and getting a groundout to get out of the jam.
Aceto got five straight strikeouts, but Ethan Blue had an infield single with two outs in the fourth. He stole second and Pelletier drove him home with a single, but Pelletier got thrown out at second to end the inning.
Caron started the fifth with a walk and got to third when Jeffrey Randall struck out, but the third strike was dropped. Goyette’s sac fly brought home Caron to cut the deficit to 5-4.
Henry Blood had an RBI in the top of the sixth when his fly ball was lost in the lights and it dropped in for a double.
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