LIVERMORE FALLS – On his final at-bat of the game, Tyler Cote more than made up for a mental error in the field just a few minutes earlier.
After Monmouth capitalized on Cote’s mistake by scoring an insurance run in the top of the sixth inning, the Livermore Falls’ catcher blasted a three-run, walk-off home run.
The four-bagger capped a four-run seventh inning and gave the Andies a 7-5 victory over the previously undefeated Mustangs in a Class C baseball game on Friday afternoon.
Monmouth hurler Scott Ogden (2-1) had been cruising along after yielding seven hits and three runs in the first three innings. After Cote’s single into the hole in the third, Ogden retired 11 of the next 12 batters heading into the bottom of the seventh.
Pinch hitter Kevin Gats led off the seventh for the Andies (5-3) with a walk. Andies’ starting pitcher Jake Marceau followed by lining Ogden’s first offering to him into right center, and Zach Keene moved both runners up with a sacrifice bunt.
Levi Armandi then grounded a single into right. As right fielder Cameron Saucier bobbled the ball, Livermore Falls coach Brian Dube waved Marceau to the plate. Saucier quickly gained control of the ball and fired it to first baseman Ben Seefeldt who in turn fired a strike to catcher Shane Kibler.
Marceau didn’t stand a chance.
“He was dead,” said Dube. “I felt we had to send him. The kids said he stumbled a bit after I sent him.”
With two outs and a runner on first, the Andies momentum didn’t end there. Brad Bryant promptly drove a single into center to bring Cote to the plate.
“I was looking for a fastball down the middle,” said Cote. “I wasn’t looking for a home run. I’d gotten under the ball a couple of times earlier. I was dropping my shoulder. I wanted to make good contact.”
Cote connected on a belt-high fastball and sent it over the fence in left field.
“(Ogden) had been strong all game,” said first-year Monmouth coach Eric Palleschi, “except for the last pitch.”
“He kept the ball away from our big hitters until the end,” added Dube.
The Mustangs picked up their insurance run on a one-out bunt by No. 9 hitter Devin Robbins with pinch runner Matt Gatcomb at first. As Robbins dropped his bunt down, Marceau fielded the ball himself and threw to first.
With third baseman Keene also rushing in, Gatcomb raced toward third.Cote was responsible for hustling down to cover third, but he never left the plate area. First baseman Josh Marceau’s throw across the diamond ended up in left field and Gatcomb raced home.
“I got after him a bit for not covering third on the rotation play,” said Dube who would quickly forgive Cote an inning later.
The Andies had jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead after two innings. They picked up a pair of runs in the bottom of the first as Jake Marceau led off with a double and scored on a triple by Keene. Armandi plated Keene with an RBI single. Keene knocked in the Andies’ third run with a two-out squibber that died 20 feet from home.
The Mustangs (7-1) answered with three runs off the freshman Marceau (1-1) in the third on an RBI single by Kyle Pelletier and a two-run, bases-loaded error on a routine grounder to short. Monmouth would pick up single runs in the fifth and sixth inning to take the 5-3 lead into the final inning.
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