It is down to the final stretch of regular season games for baseball squads, as the playoffs are rapidly approaching for many clubs.
The final regular season games are slated for Wednesday, June 1, with playoffs beginning Tuesday, June 7, 2016 with preliminary-round games.
The Houlton baseball team continues to dominate opponents on the diamond as the Shires sport an impressive 12-0 record and sit atop the standings in the Class C North region. Houlton (105.8594 Heal Points) holds a comfortable lead over No. 2 George Stevens Academy (12-1, 99.8438).
Houlton will earn a first-round bye, as the top five teams get a pass directly to the quarterfinals.
In Class D North, Hodgdon (10-2, 61.7729) is currently the No. 3 seed behind top-ranked Fort Fairfield (10-1, 63.5302) and No. 2 Penobscot Valley (9-1, 62.6310). The Hawks could earn a first-round bye and avoid a prelim if they can stay as the No. 3 seed.
Also in Class D North, Southern Aroostook (5-7, 26.8622) is in the eighth seed, while Katahdin (2-8, 17.3469) is 13th and East Grand/GHCA (2-10, 12.3469) is 15th. The top 13 squads make the playoffs.
The following is a recap of games played through Monday.
Limestone-MSSM 0, Houlton 15 — At Houlton Monday, Cameron Graham tossed a no-hitter through five innings as the Shires mercied visiting Limestone-MSSM. Graham walked one and struck out four.
Shire Billy Phillips paced the offense with three hits and four RBIs, while Nick Perfitt also had three hits. Morgan Phillips drove in three runs.
Shead 1, Houlton 14 — At Houlton Saturday, B. Phillips and Thomas Prescott each had three hits, while Prescott scored three runs to lead the Shires to victory.
For Shead of Eastport, Ryan Eylar had a triple and scored the lone run.
East Grand/GHCA 1, Fort Fairfield 12 — At Fort Fairfield Saturday, Malcolm Langner and Jon Bernard each had two singles and two RBIs to lead the Tigers past East Grand. Dalton Cassidy and Isaac Cyr also each had two singles while Chris Gill chipped in a single.
Trevor Noyes and Isaac Potter each singled for East Grand.
Calais 1, Houlton 14 — At Houlton Friday, Pat Howe allowed only one hit and one unearned run while striking out 11 to help defeat the Calais Blue Devils. Ryan Dee and Perfitt each had two hits.
For Calais, Kolby Gillespie had the lone hit and RBI.
Ashland 11, Southern Aroostook 8 — At Dyer Brook Friday in a makeup game, Steve Bellanceau led Ashland with two doubles and three RBIs en route to the victory. Malcolm Milligan and Alex Kaiser each doubled and Timothy Tarr singled twice.
For the Warriors, Hunter Walker and Steve Radcliff each had three singles and Josh Perrin had two singles.
Caribou 1, Houlton 10 — At Houlton May 18, Ryan Dee allowed one run on three hits and struck out seven to help defeat the Vikings. B. Phillips had three hits while Morgan Phillips drove in three runs. Nick Botting and Ryan Dee added two hits apiece.
For Caribou, Camden Huck, Justin Ouellette and Daniel Randolph had the hits.
East Grand/GHCA 13, Wisdom 9 — At St. Agatha May 17, Peter Apgar pitched six strong innings and contributed two hits to pace East Grand to the win. Jim Schuurman and Wyatt Oliver also had hits for the Vikings.
For the Pioneers, Garrett Watt and Dominic Voisine had two hits apiece.
Katahdin 16, Southern Aroostook 4 — At Dyer Brook May 17, Tyson Porter carried Katahdin to a road victory over Southern Aroostook with a strong game at the plate and on the rubber.
Porter racked up two RBIs on two hits for Katahdin. He doubled in the third inning and singled in the sixth inning. Porter was a workhorse on the mound, allowing two earned runs on five hits and two walks, with five strikeouts in pitching six innings.
Two runs in the bottom of the fifth helped Southern Aroostook close its deficit to 6-4. An RBI double by Josh Perrin and an RBI single by Hunter Walker sparked Southern Aroostook ‘s rally.
Katahdin built upon its lead with 10 runs in the sixth inning as Dalton Hartt kicked things off with a double, plating Cooper Drew and Dakota Reinhardt. That was followed up by John McNally’s single, scoring Hartt.
