ORONO, Maine – Dennis Farnham allowed only one hit in a five inning, complete game shutout as the Orono High School Red Riots defeated the Dexter Regional High School Tigers, 10-0, in a Memorial Day, Class C North baseball matchup.
Farnham struck out eight batters and allowed only one walk in five innings of work. Tim Bush, head coach of the Red Riots, attributed his success to first pitch strikes. Farnham threw first pitch strikes to 14 of the 19 batters he faced.
“Dennis has been grinding for us all year on the mound. He’s pitched a lot of tough games. He’s seen Old Town Twice, he’s seen GSA twice and he’s seen Dexter twice. He’s seen a lot of really good teams,” said Bush. “For him to go out there and continue to grind for us is huge.”
The Orono offense started early, scoring a combined five runs in the first two innings and chasing Dexter starting pitcher, Kyle Emerson, from the game after one inning on the mound. Jackson Coutts led the way for the Red Riots, going three for four, including an RBI triple to end the game.
Brayden Miller replaced Emerson with nobody out in the second inning. The two Dexter pitchers struggled to find the strike zone, walking a combined nine batters and hitting another.
“That basically seals your fate every time,” said Dexter head coach, Chad Graffam. “Free bases leads to a lot of runs. That’s 10, and they scored 10 runs.”
Cameron Pratt was one of four players that reached base for the Tigers. He singled in the fourth inning, while two others reached on errors.
Both teams entered the game in playoff contention with 7-7 records, and will play their final regular season games on Wednesday. Orono will host the fourth-place Central Red Devils. Orono won their last meeting on April 23, 5-1.
“Central is going to play a little small ball. They’re going to run. They’re going to try to bunt,” said Bush. “They’re a good team. We’re expecting a really good game from them.”
Dexter will travel to Guilford to play PCHS in their regular season finale. The Tigers beat the Pirates, 11-1, on May 18.
“Just because they’re 2-13 doesn’t mean they’re not competing,” said Graffam. “When they compete, they play well. If we’re not ready to compete, they’ll beat us too.”
Both games are scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m.
