The Trenton Acadians, for the first time in team history, won the Senior American Legion Baseball (18U) Northeast Regional on Sunday afternoon by defeating the Coffey Post Defenders (Nashua, NH) 6-1 in the championship game at Fitton Field in Schrewsbury, Massachusetts. Trenton becomes just the third team from the state of Maine to win the regional and advance to play in the American Legion World Series, joining Nova Seafood and Andrews Post both out of the Portland area.
Trenton went ahead in the top of the third inning and never trailed. Joey Clouse led off with a single, and then a sacrifice bunt by Brett Bragdon was misplayed for an error to put runners on first and second with noone out. With one out, Hunter Curtis was walked intentionally to load the bases. Miles Palmer drove in Clouse with a sacrifice RBI flyout to rightfield to make it 1-0 Acadians. David Baugh led off with a double and Dawson Curtis singled to start the fourth. They would be driven in by Clouse and Bragdon who both singled to extend the advantage to 3-0. They ended their scoring on the day in the sixth inning when Dawson Curtis drove in a run with an RBI single, Colin Sullivan scored on an error, and Dawson Curtis came across to also score on a wild pitch. Coffey Post got their only run in the last half of the sixth when Derek Finlay drew a one out walk, and Zak Lussier slammed an RBI triple to right.
Hunter Curtis earned the win on the mound for Trenton allowing one run on three hits with two walks and two strikeouts in the 7.0 inning complete game effort. Bough had three hits, while Dawson Curtis, Clouse, and Bragdon had two each. The Acadians went 4-1 in the tournament and now head to Shelby, North Carolina for the American Legion World Series that begins on Thursday. Coffey Post had three batters with one hit each, and their starting pitcher Dean Adams took the loss giving up six runs (five earned) on 11 hits with two walks and eight strikeouts in 6.2 innings. Trenton begins play in the World Series at 4 p.m. Thursday when they face the defending American Legion Champion out of Troy, Alabama. There is eight teams in the WS with two divisions (Stars & Stripes). The Acadians are in the Stars division with Troy (Alabama), Cheyenne (Wyoming), and League City (Texas). The top two teams in each division in pool play (3 games each) will advance to meet in the semifinals on Monday, August 14 at 4 and 7 p.m., with the championship set for the next day Tuesday, August 15 at 7.
Story by Chris Lessner/Game stats taken from GameChanger/Photos courtesy of Amanda Joy Mclaughlin
