Cole Payne had another strong start on the mound Friday afternoon, and Bangor Christian scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning to take the lead for good en route to a 9-3 win over Machias in a Class D baseball game played in Bangor.
The Bulldogs, who gave the Patriots their only loss so far on the season two weeks ago in Machias, would score two in the top of the first inning on a passed ball and a wild pitch. BC had the answer with a four-run bottom half. Payne singled to score Jon Benjamin who led off with a walk and had stolen a base, Blaze Morris hit a grounder that was misplayed for an error that scored Payne, Gabe Gahagan was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and Samuel Cormier scored on a wild pitch. Payne then took over on the mound to lead his team to the victory. Despite six walks, the right hander only allowed one earned run and one hit with 11 strikeouts in 5.2 innings. He also had one hit and two RBI at the plate and scored two runs for the Patriots (12-1). Jack Kowalski had three hits, while Gahagan drove in three. Denver Fergerson had one hit and one RBI, and Nick Hennessey also had one hit for the Bulldogs (6-5).
