The two top teams and both first year clubs, the Bangor Babes and Old Orchard Beach Bugs, would square off in a best of three championship series for the right to capture the Greater Northeast Collegiate Baseball League title. They would split the first two games in Auburn on Sunday afternoon and Tuesday evening, before the decisive matchup was won by the Babes in Old Orchard on Wednesday to take home the summer league trophy.
In Game 1 at Central Maine Community College Field in Auburn Sunday afternoon- Bangor built an 8-0 lead, and then held off two late charges by Old Orchard Beach to escape with a 10-9 win. Liam O’Neal had a three-run homerun, and Matt Seymour had a two-run shot for the Babes. The two-run homer in the eighth inning by Seymour ended up being the game winner, after the Bugs had scored seven times in the top of the frame to cut it to 8-7. OOB rallied again with two runs in their last at bat in the top of the ninth, but after a two-out single that looked like it would even the score, Bangor leftfielder Griffin Ruffner cut down the runner at home plate to end it. Allen Wheaton (Husson University) earned the pitching win, firing 7.1 innings giving up two runs on seven hits. Jack Morris picked up the save for the Babes. O’Neal reached base three times with a homerun, a walk, and a double, while also driving in three runs and scoring three times. Seymour had a single and his big timely two-run homer, while Tyler Annis (University of Maine) and Jonah Baude each chipped in two hits a piece. Nic Frink had five hits and three RBI, and Chris Balzano had two hits for Old Orchard. Ian Libby lost on the mound allowing three runs on nine hits in 3.0 innings.
In Game 2 at CMCC Tuesday evening- In a game that was supposed to be played at Goodall Park in Sanford but was moved back to Auburn due to field conditions, Old Orchard Beach rallied from a 3-0 deficit and scored four times in the bottom of the eighth inning to force a decisive Game 3 with a 7-3 victory. Ruffner led the way in the Bangor loss with three hits, and O’Neal had a two-run single. The Bugs took the lead for good in that four run eighth on a wild pitch, and Frink hammered a three-run homer to make up the final difference. Brian Riley started on the hill for the Babes and got a no-decision allowing one run on five hits in 5.0 innings, while Baude and Samuel Economy pitched in the eighth with Economy being tagged with the defeat. Conor Moriarity and Chris Cimino also helped to pace the OOB offensive attack with two hits each.
In Game 3 at the BallPark in Old Orchard Beach on Wednesday evening- Annis had a go-ahead and game winning single in the bottom of the third inning, and the Bangor Babes would capture the summer league title with a 4-2 win. Bangor never trailed, going up 2-0 in the second on a two-run single by Ruffner, before Old Orchard Beach evened it on a two-run single by Cam Seymour in the top of the third. After the Babes took the lead, relievers Riley and Alex Smith (Husson) shut down the Bugs offense the rest of the way. Smith escaped a bases loaded one-out jam by inducing two popouts in the ninth to earn the save, making a winner out of starter Brady Harvie. O’Neal and Annis had two hits each, while Cimino (two doubles) and Moriarity (two singles) led OOB. O’Neal (from Tenants Harbor and Division II Bridgeport University) was named the Most Valuable Player of the playoffs. Oliver Leonard was the losing pitcher for the Bugs, who end their first season with a record of 19-8.
Bangor caps off their inaugural campaign at 17-5, led by head coach Trevor Delaite and general manager Colton Albertson.
Liam O’Neal (#3) during a Bangor Babes 13-4 win over Augusta in a Greater Northeast Collegiate Baseball League semifinal on Friday, July 26 in Orono. O’Neal earned postseason MVP, helping to lead Bangor over Old Orchard Beach 4-2 on Wednesday evening to win the summer league title in their first season. Photo by Anthony DelMonaco
