ORONO, Maine – The No. 9 Dexter Regional High School Tigers roared past the No. 8 Orono High School Red Riots, 12-4, in a preliminary round matchup of the Class C North baseball playoffs on Wednesday, after being outscored by Orono a combined 17-1 in two meetings during the regular season.
Cameron Pratt hit a home run on the first pitch of the game to get the offense going for the Tigers. Pratt also had an RBI single in the game. Zach White recorded three hits and two RBIs for Dexter, while Brayden Miller, Matt Hanscome, and Dustin Belanger all had two hits each.
“The baseball gods were looking over the Tigers,” said Dexter head coach, Chad Graffam. “If you see a good pitch and put a good swing on it, anything can happen.”
Jacob Bickford was solid on the mound for Dexter, allowing only three earned runs and striking out four in the complete game victory.
“He’s gotten better and better. The only thing he’s lacking is confidence, and the last two starts, he’s been confident,” said Graffam. “If he’s confident, he can pitch well and he can play well.”
Dennis Farnham gave up five runs on six hits in the first inning for Orono. Nate DeSisto hit four Dexter batters and walked another two in six innings. DeSisto allowed nine hits and recorded six strikeouts.
Connor Robertson singled and doubled for the Red Riots, while Jackson Coutts, Evan Kenefic, Dennis Farnham, Kam Hines, and Dante Voyou all had one hit each.
The loss ends the season for Orono, who finish with an 8-9 overall record. The Red Riots graduate four seniors, but will return the majority of their players, including Coutts, who racked up six hits, three RBIs, and four runs against Dexter during the regular season.
“Only one team can win it all. There’s going to be 15 upset teams by the end of the playoffs,” said Orono head coach, Tim Bush. “Heck of a game by Dexter. They played awesome.”
Dexter advances to play at No. 1 George Stevens Academy in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Dexter lost both regular season meetings, most recently in Blue Hill, 4-1, on May 21. Dexter lost to GSA at home, 10-2, on May 6.
“We’re going down to have fun. We’re going to go down and play baseball the way we can, and play inning by inning,” said Graffam. “We won’t worry about the second one until the first one is done.”
GSA finished the regular season with a 15-1 record and received a first round playoff bye.
