Trojans back on track in 5-1 win

SACO — It wasn’t Red Sox-Yankees type action, but the 5-1 victory the Thornton Academy baseball team had over Kennebunk on Thursday was one of the more important wins for the Golden Trojans on the 2010 season.

Thornton had dropped two straight games, one to Deering on May 15, and another to Bonny Eagle on May 18. Now at 7-4, the Trojans are back in the good graces of the Maine Principal Association Heal Point Standings (third place, tops in York County), just in time for what appears to be a highly anticipated Battle of the Bridge game with Biddeford upcoming on Saturday.

The Tigers will come into the game with a four-game winning streak, as well as the same record at 7-4. The winner may come out as the top team in the county, as the regular season is winding down.

Thornton head coach Greg Paradis said the Trojans said defense will be a key to the game.

“We just have to defend,” Paradis said. “We’ve got to take care of the things we can control. You can control making routine plays. You can control being aggressive at the plate. You can control throwing strikes. If we do those three things, we’ll be in the game. But we’ve got to do those three things, because Biddeford is a tough team, and they knocked us out of the Legion tournament last year, and they pretty much have the same guys playing this spring. We see them play all the time, they’re a tough club. We’ve got some work to do tomorrow, and hopefully some of our guys get a little bit healthier and get into it on Saturday.”

Strong pitching and timely hitting once again guided the Trojans to victory. Thornton freshman pitcher Jeff Gelinas allowed a run(unearned)on four hits with five strikeouts in over five innings of work.

After falling 1-0 to the Rams on an error in the first, Thornton took the lead in the second on a two-run single by second baseman Jon Pate. From that point until the fifth inning, the game turned into a pitcher’s duel between Gelinas and Kennebunk starter Pat Fulford, who had an impressive outing, striking out six batters in five innings of work.

Kennebunk head coach Brian Dill said he was happy with Fulford’s performance.

“He’s pitched well all year,” Dill said. “He’s done a good job. I’m proud of the way we play. We’ve got to get some hits for guys when they get on base. We’ve got to score more than one run. It’s a tough league.”

Thornton added insurance runs in the fifth, when designated hitter Alex Richardson-Newton smacked a two-run single. Newton would later score on a throwing error to make the final 5-1 score.

Trojans first baseman Fred Randall also stood out offensively, going 3-for-3, including a double and a run.

Gelinas got into a jam in the sixth, and was replaced by sophomore Jack Kenney, who pitched out of the jam by inducing a fly ball out on one pitch to get out of the inning. Kenney pitched a scoreless seventh to close out the game.

“When we play Kennebunk, ever since they’ve been in the league, we’ve had some hard-fought games,” Paradis said. “I think that was a much needed win for us, especially after Deering and Bonny Eagle. We were a little unsure of ourselves defensively, we were a little tentative at the plate. I thought today we pitched well, we hit fairly well and thought we defended much, much better than the last two games, so I’m happy.”

The Rams (3-8) had bright spots beyond Fulford, compliments of leftfielder Nick Philbrick, who went 2 for 2 at the plate, and made a highlight-reel diving catch on a line drive hit by Thornton third baseman Matt Turnage in the third inning.

“We played hard,” Dill said. “It’s kind of been the story of our season. We play pretty good defense, we pitch well. We’re just not offensive enough. It seems like there’s so little margin of error for us. We don’t score a lot of runs, so every little thing seems bigger than it really should be. We gave up a couple extra runs in the fifth inning and it kind of puts us a little further away from a win.”

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