Baseball
Wildcats win one, lose three
By Stan Ross
YORK - On Monday, May 7, the York High School Wildcats saw their record drop to 4 and 6 as they suffered another road loss to Yarmouth by the final score of 8 to 4.
Head Coach Gordon Lewis started sophomore pitcher Alex Blasik, brought up from the junior varsity team, and used Dan Moran and Ryan MacGlashing in relief, but Yarmouth picked up three runs in the second and four in the fourth while the York bats were held to one run in the second and two in the fourth.
Kevin Maran led the Wildcat attack with a home run, a single and two RBIs. Matt Haight added a double and MacGlashing and Alex Hymanson checked in with two singles a piece.
Capers outlast York, 9-7
Wind is a four letter word and so is wild. Mix in a plethora of errors and a pair of hit batters plus six walks and you will get some idea of what happened last Friday, May 4, when the York Wildcats (3-3) lost a wild one at Cape Elizabeth to the Capers (3-3) by the final score of 9 to 7.
York held their own in the early innings as Kal DeCato and Dan Moran each had wind-blown doubles and the score was all even after four innings.
Catcher Jared Turner was credited with a pair of singles and Moran had a single and double. Pitcher David Nieves (1-1) was charged with his first loss of the season.
The Capers were charged with six errors and York made three in this wild and wooly game.
Wildcats blank Falcons, 4-0
On Wednesday, May 2, the York Wildcats (3-2) traveled to Freeport and shut out the Falcons behind the three-hit pitching of DeCato.
The key defensive play of the game came in the first inning when Freeport had runners on first and second and no outs. Freeport tried a double steal but lined to Nieves at second, who flipped to Haight at short who then relayed to MacGlashing at first to complete a rare triple play.
Maran and Dan Graziano each had two hits for York to pace their attack. With DeCato on the mound and Maran behind the plate, the Wildcats registered their first shut out of the year.
Gray-New Gloucester edges York, 9-8
Last Tuesday, May 1, in a make-up of Monday's rained-out game, the GNG Patriots came from behind to out-slug the York Wildcats by the final score of 9 to 8.
GNG scored first when pitcher Joe Billings doubled to left and catcher Matt Moberg followed with a two-run homer to center. A single by Pete Clement and an RBI double by Lucas Chase gave the Patriots a 3-0 lead in the third. But the Wildcats bounced back after two were out when Hymanson registered his second single and Turner followed with a hit.
Then Haight, who had been robbed in the first inning when his long drive to right was hauled down, came through with a three-RBI homer to center. Then Maran followed with another homer to center and York led 4 to 3.
York held the lead until the fifth when Lucas Chase added a two-run homer to center and GNG now led 5 to 4. Matt Hymanson came on to relieve York starting pitcher Moran, and closed out the fifth inning.
The Wildcats rallied to even the score at 5-5 on a single by Nick Mercurio followed by a two-out RBI single by Haight. But the Patriots sent nine men to the plate and scored four runs on two walks and four singles to take a 9 to 5 lead. The Wildcats kept scrapping and added three in the seventh on a hit batter, an infield error, a solid two-RBI double by Graziano and an RBI single by MacGlashing, but left the potential tying run on base and GNG had squeaked out a 9 to 8 win.
A veteran observer commented, "the York ‘Homer-dome' leads the league every year. Four home runs today all over the short center field fence!"
Coach Lewis is looking forward to the Wildcats' next four games, all at home, which will allow them, as he said, "more time in the batting cage."
