Zone 3 American Legion: Pastime sweeps Locke Mills

June 28--LEWISTON -- Even though he's the sage veteran of Pastime Club's roster, Ryan Riordan started the American Legion baseball season at a disadvantage.

While most of his teammates and opponents were still sharp coming off a spring spent on the diamond, Riordan, who played fall baseball at Southern Maine Community College, hadn't pitched or faced live pitching in months at the start of schedule.

But Riordan looked in mid-season form on both the mound and at the plate on Saturday, throwing six solid innings while collecting five hits and six RBIs on the day to help Pastime Club complete a sweep of Locke Mills in their Zone 3 doubleheader at Joseph Deschenes Field.

"It's a little rough coming out and just throwing the first game," said Riordan, who had thrown six innings in relief prior to Saturday. "Conditioning is tough. I get pretty tired out there. You've got to know how to condition yourself because you're a little out of shape when you come into (the season) like that."

Pastime scored twice in the sixth inning to win the opener, 7-5, then pulled away late behind Riordan in Game 2 for an 8-1 victory.

Riordan, the former Oak Hill and Lisbon ace, drove in two runs in the first game and finished the day 5-for-8 with a double and six RBIs. Gage Cote also had a big all-around day with three hits, three runs scored, three stolen bases and two RBIs.

Chad Snowman led Locke Mills offensively, going 5-for-8 with a double and a run scored. Anthony Todd had three hits, including a three-run homer and a triple.

Locke Mills outhit Pastime, 16-14, on the day, but left 14 men on base and had a couple of baserunners picked off first, including one to end Game 1 with the tying run at the plate.

"For a very large number of our players, this is their first year of Legion ball," said coach Bob Remington, who was filling in for head coach Ryan Palmer. "They had their moments, but they also showed that they haven't quite figured it out yet."

Locke Mills (2-5) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in Game 1 on Kaine Hutchins' RBI single in the first inning.

Pastime (6-2) tied it in the first on Cote's perfect squeeze bunt to score Alex Small from third. But coach Dave Jordan felt his team looked a little listless in the morning sun and tried to light a fire under them with a dugout pep talk in the middle innings.

"After my mini-meltdown, or whatever it was demanding a little more passion from us when we played, the kids responded," Jordan said. "We had two diving plays in the outfield (by Cote and Riordan) that took away base hits. Then we saw guys at the plate grinding out at bats more (and) swinging the bat more."

Pastime scored two in the fourth and two more in the fifth on a Riordan single to take a 5-2 lead. Locke Mills tied it in the sixth when Todd hit a towering drive to right field that dropped just over the fence and just inside the foul pole.

Caleb Dostie led off the bottom of the sixth with a single, stole second and scored what proved to be the winning run on Kyle Ullrich's single to left. Pastime added an insurance run later in the frame when Cote was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Snowman led off the seventh with a single, but Pastime starter Matt Poulin (7 IP, 10 H, 4 ER, 5 K, 1 BB) clinched the win by picking him off first for the final out.

Pastime struck first in Game 2 with two runs off of Snowman in the first inning. Riordan delivered an RBI single and later scored when Snowman beaned Small with the bases loaded.

Snowman didn't allow a hit over the next three innings, and Locke Mills cut the deficit in half when Todd led off the fourth with a triple and scored on Mitch Kubesh's grounder.

Riordan allowed at least one hit in the first five of his six innings, scattering six overall. He also walked four. But he allowed just one hit after Todd's triple, struck out seven and benefited from some good glove work by his teammates.

"We've thrown him on the weekends and built him up with two or three innings in relief, and then today there was a goal to see if he could start and throw a solid five for us," Jordan said. "I think it was a great outing."

"My command wasn't as good as I want it, but I felt way better today than in previous days," Riordan said. "I got to throw a few breaking pitches today and that felt good."

Riordan and Dostie added RBI singles as part of a three-run fifth and Riordan clubbed a two-run double as part of a three-run sixth.

"I definitely felt a lot more comfortable (hitting) today," Riordan said. "(Snowman) had a pretty good fastball and good curve. That's pretty much all we saw, though, so you can adjust to it pretty good in the later innings."

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