Buckfield rings up 39 runs and 29 hits.

BUCKFIELD – Here’s a quick Class D baseball quiz. What do you do when you’re in the process of throttling your opponent by a combined score of 39-2 during a Saturday doubleheader?

A) Enjoy the rare summer-like weather

B) Work on expanding your pitching repertoire

C) Try to get your slumping hitters going

D) Hurry to finish the games before the afternoon thunderstorms rumble in.

The Buckfield Bucks did all of the above to try to salvage something, besides two wins of course, out of Saturday’s twinbill with Forest Hills.

They won Game 1, 12-2 in five innings, though the game was actually closer than the final score might indicate.

Then they made even quicker work of the Tigers in the second game, 27-0, in a game that wasn’t even as close as that final score showed. Both games were halted in the fifth inning by the 10-run mercy rule, but the Bucks tried to make the most out of what had to be a long day at the ballpark, even for the winning team.

“We can try to work on our bunts and our hit-and-runs, the little things, and get ready for the bigger games down the road,” said Buckfield assistant coach Darryl Harvey. “Other than that, we’re just out here to have fun. It’s hard to keep your focus in a game like this. If you can get them to keep their focus, that’s the biggest battle.”

All 10 Bucks who played divvied up the 29 hits they stroked in nine total innings of offense. Each and every one of them scored at least once and all but leadoff hitter Jeff Russell drove in at least one run. Jacob McAlister led the charge by going 5-for-6 with five RBIs and eight runs scored on the day, while Scott Wetherell went 5-for-8 with five RBIs and six runs scored.

The Bucks (8-2) enjoyed strong pitching performances from Chris Savage in Game 1 and Jamie Henderson in Game 2.

After Savage struck out the side to start the game, the Bucks jumped on Tiger ace Roger Paradise and staked him to a quick 3-0 lead on Savage’s RBI single and a two-run error. The senior hurler helped his own cause by going 3-for-3 with an RBI and three runs in Game 1.

“I was in a little bit of a slump before today. I was like 0-for-9 or something in my last two games,” Savage said. “I got out of it today.”

Buckfield added three more in the third on McAlister’s first RBI single of the day, an error and an RBI ground out by Henderson.

On the mound, Savage (five innings, seven hits, two earned runs) breezed through the first four innings, fanning six.

“The first three or four innings I did pretty well, but then the last inning or two, I just started floating it in there,” Savage said. “I was working on my knuckle-curve and my drop-ball.”

Savage got a little too cute and Forest Hills (5-5) threatened to make it interesting by scoring a pair in the fifth on a Jacob Morrissette RBI single and a Travis Carrier ground out.

The Tigers touched Savage for five hits in the inning, yet managed only two runs by running themselves into an out, something they did too frequently in both games.

Buckfield put the game away with a six-run bottom of the fifth, keyed by RBI doubles by Dillon Emery and Billy Sullivan.

Game 2 got ugly quick, as the Bucks put six on the board in the first, five in the second and 14 in the third. Wetherell had a single, two doubles and a triple on his way to scoring five runs. Matt Lowell went 3-for-5 with three RBIs and three runs scored.

Henderson surrendered only one hit while striking out five and walking four to pick up his first win of the year.