One big inning can mean victory or it can mean defeat. For South Portland’s baseball team, that one big inning by Westbrook meant a loss as the Blazes took a 12-2 win at Westbrook on Saturday afternoon. The Blazes took advantage of South Portland miscues and shaky pitching and they raced to the five-inning decision over the Red Riots.
Westbrook put the game away in the bottom half of the fourth inning with a grand slam to centerfield by Mike Tanguay and an RBI double by Matt Foye that drove in Steve Lebel. The Blazes eventually plated eight runners in that frame to turn a 3-2 lead into an 11-2 advantage.
Westbrook starter Shawn McAlpine had a strong pitching performance and he went the distance allowing only two runs.
Westbrook head coach, John Eisenhart was more than pleased with his team after the win. “This game begins and ends with pitching and Shawn did a great job early in the game,” he said. “They did a great job with their at-bats and had a great approach. Then Mike Tanguay hit the big hit that broke the game open.”
In the top half of the third inning, South Portland got on the board first with an RBI single by Montana Colby and they scored another run on a Westbrook fielding error. But those runs weren’t nearly enough to slow the Blazes.
Riot pitcher Josh Garneau struggled. He gave up six walks and threw three wild pitches resulting in a pair of runs for Westbrook.
“We walked seven guys, walked four in that one inning; (Tanguay) hit the grand slam and that was a big play,” said South Portland coach Tony DiBiase. “It just kind of snowballed on us from there. We have to rely on good pitching and good defense and timely hitting. Once we fell way behind like that, it was tough to get back.”
James Boudreau had two of the Riots’ six hits. Christian Hamilton and Adam Hamilton each had a pair of hits to pace the Blazes’ six-hit attack.
“Their pitchers gave us walks early, but you have to capitalize on that,” said Coach DiBiase. “That was the difference in the game.”
South Portland was scheduled to play Portland on Tuesday afternoon.
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