YARMOUTH — It wasn’t a particularly fruitful week of baseball for a Wells High team that opened the season by winning six of seven games.
The Warriors managed only one run in losses to Cape Elizabeth and Mt. Ararat on Monday and Wednesday. Facing Yarmouth junior Sam Lowenstein on Friday afternoon didn’t help matters.
Lowenstein took a shutout into the seventh inning, setting the tone for a convincing 8-1 victory over an opponent that began the day ranked second in the Class B South Heal point standings.
Yarmouth, ranked seventh, extended its winning streak to four and is now 5-2. Wells has lost three in a row and is 6-4.
“We knew that’s a really good hitting team,” Lowenstein said. “They’ve hit well all season. My approach to get them out was just to change eye levels, change speeds, keep them off balance.”
Through five innings, Lowenstein allowed only two hits and faced just one batter over the minimum, thanks to the first of two double plays turned by the Clippers infield.
Wells strung together three consecutive hits in the seventh to spoil the shutout bid.
Caleb Moody and Caden Dufort each had two of the Warriors’ seven hits. Lowenstein (3-0) struck out five and walked only one, and Yarmouth ended the game on a strong throw from shortstop Andrew Cheever to complete a second double play.
“That’s to be expected,” Yarmouth Coach Marc Halsted said. “We want our infield to expect to make those plays day in and day out.”
The Clippers banged out 10 hits against Wells starter Santiago Fitch-Cury, who went five innings, and Gage Sargent, who pitched the sixth. Eight of Yarmouth’s nine starters hit safely, with first baseman David Swift, third baseman Stevie Walsh and designated hitter Jack Janczuk all delivering doubles to the gap in left-center.
Swift’s and Walsh’s hits hopped over the outfield fence for ground-rule doubles. Each also added RBI singles, with Swift’s scoring two to make it 5-0 in the fourth.
“I wanted to be aggressive early,” Swift said. “I was looking for a fastball, first pitch. He threw me a curve and I still liked what I saw, so I sat back and drove it.”
Lowenstein led off the home second by dropping a bunt toward third and beating it out for a single. He came around to score on Janczuk’s double. Liam Hickey added a single up the middle to make it 2-0.
Yarmouth added another run in the third, two in the fifth and three in the sixth.
After managing only four runs in their first three games (two of them losses), the Clippers have come to life with 36 runs during their winning streak.
“It took us a little longer to get going,” said Swift, noting rainouts and not playing before or during spring break (when the team made its once-every-other-year preseason trip to Florida). “But we’re starting to roll now. We’re feeling good about ourselves.”
As for Wells, Coach Blake Pease said he saw some positive signs.
“We’re hitting the ball,” he said. “It just goes right at somebody.”
Wells committed four errors to Yarmouth’s one.
“Tighten up our defense a little bit,” Pease said, “and we’ll be right there.”
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