LIVERMORE FALLS – When John McKenzie stepped to the plate, he knew what to expect, and the Mountain Valley baseball team certainly needed the production at that stage of the game Friday afternoon.

Freshman Cam Kaubris belted a grand slam in the first inning, and then the Falcons relied on Connor Blais to nail down a 7-5 win against Livermore Falls in Mountain Valley Conference action.

Lefty Garrett McPherson gave all he had through five-plus innings before the Andies batters solved the curve ball. Blais came in and pitched two innings to earn the save. The Andies had potential winning runs on base with two out in the bottom of the seventh, but Blais induced Ryan Jackson to fly out to end it.

“We held them off,” Mountain Valley coach Steve LaPointe said. “This was Garrett’s first start and he really threw well, but after 75 pitches it was time. The thing with Connor he throws strikes and he challenged a good hitting (fast ball) team.”

Class B Mountain Valley (9-2) was leading 5-2 in the fifth when McKenzie hit a two-RBI double down the left field line that proved to be the winning runs. Andies reliever Willie Brown had held the Falcon batters in check, but walked Alex Gagnon to lead off the frame. Keith Brennick hit in to a fielders’ choice and Kaubris walked to set up McKenzie’s heroics. Pinch runner T.J. Burgess hustled in to score from first base.

“There were two strikes on me,” McKenzie said. “I was looking for a curve ball and sure enough I got a pitch to hit. It was a good at bat.” The Falcons were anxious to get back on track after a 7-5 loss against Winthrop two days earlier.

“Entering the game, we knew we’d have to work hard,” McKenzie said. “Livermore Falls always plays hard against us and we were optimistic, because we had lost a couple games (Dirigo and Winthrop). We knew that we couldn’t take anything for granted, so we pulled together and got the job done.”

Livermore Falls (10-3) scored single runs in the third and fourth before unloading in the sixth. Jake Marceau singled, Josh Tainter walked and Zach Keene singled. Marceau raced home on a wild pitch and Jackson and Brown each hit RBI-ground outs. Caleb Baron had three hits and Kevin Gats hit an RBI-triple.

“We had a shaky first inning,” Livermore Falls coach Brian Dube said. “The plan was for Zach Keene to throw the fast ball away, but Kaubris pulled one. The kids kept battling and came back. They made it interesting and we had the bases full in the seventh inning.”

Mountain Valley jumped on things in the first as Cody McPherson was hit by a pitch and Matt Laubauskas (two hits) singled. Justin Staires flied out, but Gagnon singled and Brennick drew a bases-loaded walk. Kaubris deposited the first pitch over the left-field fence.

“This team has come a long way,” LaPointe said. “It isn’t just one pulling through because we are getting contributions from every one. That’s nice to see.”