With the imitation Green Monster in left, the well-manicured field and the 7,000-plus seats, Hadlock Field certainly stands out among the high school baseball fields in Maine.
That’s because it is a professional ballpark, home of the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs, where Portland High School happens to play its home games. On Tuesday, Bonny Eagle took the field that groomed the talents of Josh Beckett, Hanley Ramirez, Jonathan Papelbon and numerous other major league stars.
The Scots, No. 4 in the Heal Point standings released earlier in the day on Tuesday, committed four errors and left the bases loaded twice in the late innings as they fell to the seventh-ranked Portland Bulldogs 4-2.
“It’s a wonderful ballpark, don’t get me wrong,” said Bonny Eagle coach Marc Sawyer. “Sometimes I think teams get a little overwhelmed when they come here. I would hope that that didn’t happen to us, but I can’t say that it didn’t.”
Bonny Eagle’s miscues stung from the start. Portland’s Mike Blais, who reached on a fielder’s choice, scored in the first to put the Bulldogs up 1-0. After stealing second, he advanced to third on a throwing error on a groundball that allowed Brian Furey to reach first. Blais trotted home after Furey stole second as the throw to second was not handled cleanly.
Bonny Eagle came back with a pair of runs in the second. Casey McKague walked and scored on Joe Davis’ triple to right field. Brent Sawyer followed with an RBI groundout to score Davis.
Leading off the Portland half of the third, Anthony Passmore reached on an infield hit. A late throw to first was off the mark, allowing Passmore to advance to second. An errant throw trying to catch him at second allowed him to move to third. He scored on an RBI groundout by Blais.
The Bulldogs took the lead for good on a double by pinch hitter Greg LeBorgne in the fourth that knocked in two runs.
Bonny Eagle committed four errors; Portland made two.
“We’re making too many errors,” Marc Sawyer said. “When I was coaching at Gorham with Rocky Myers, he told me that in high school baseball, the team that makes the most errors generally loses. And so far this year as I look back, the four games we’ve lost, we’ve committed the most errors. In the five games we’ve won, we have not. We need to tighten some things up.”
The Scots had golden opportunities in the fifth and sixth to rally. Nick Winslow reached on an error with one out and went to third on Ricky Hoyt’s single. Hoyt stole second and the Bulldogs walked McKague intentionally to lead the bases. Furey, the Portland starting pitcher, got out of the jam with a fly ball to shallow center and a grounder back to the mound.
In the sixth, Lincoln Sanborn was hit by a pitch to start the Scots off. Tim Grovo and Ryan Nason followed with singles to load the bases with no outs. A strikeout and a double-play grounder to second by Winslow ended the Bonny Eagle threat.
“He hit it on the button, but it was right at the second baseman and they turned the double play,” Sawyer said. “They did what they needed to win.”
Furey worked a complete game for Portland, striking out 10. He struck out the side in the seventh. Portland improved to 5-4, while Bonny Eagle fell to 5-4.
“Portland was on the short end of a couple games early in the year,” Marc Sawyer said. “I knew that wasn’t going to happen too much more this year. Their pitcher was a good pitcher. He had good stuff, a good off-speed pitch. We just didn’t get the hits we needed to.”
Sanborn started and went five innings for the Scots, striking out five while allowing four runs, two of them earned.
“(Sanborn) comes and plays hard,” Sawyer said. “He’s a little bit snake bitten. Three of our four losses, he’s taken. We haven’t gotten it done behind him.”
Perhaps the aura of Hadlock added to the Bonny Eagle woes in the field.
“If you look at the SMAA stats, there’s a reason why Portland is 4-0 here,” Sawyer said. “Teams don’t come here to play baseball. Parents bring cameras. They bring video cameras. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I really respect that part of it.”
But the coach wouldn’t mind if Portland moved its home games back to the humble park in Deering Oaks just a few hundred yards away.
“I’d rather leave Deering Oaks with a win than leave Hadlock with a loss,” Sawyer said.
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