Auburn, ME – The #2 seeded CMCC Baseball team opened its 2025 YSCC Tournament run with a 2-0 victory over #3 York County at home on Wednesday afternoon. Hayden Durrell drove in the game's only runs with a two-RBI base hit up the middle in the bottom of the fifth, and starting pitcher Kyle Delano threw a nearly flawless game to shut out the Hawks in the first game of the double-elimination bracket.
"Playoff baseball is all about pitching and defense," head coach Ryan Palmer said after the game. "Today we got both. Kyle was masterful on the mound, and our defense made some big plays. We figured one big hit could win this game and Hayden delivered."
Things were tense right from the opening pitch with both teams knowing a loss would put them in an elimination game on Thursday afternoon against the loser of the other matchup between #1 SMCC and #4 UMaine-Augusta. Delano set the tone with a one-two-three inning to start the top of the first, and the offense nearly broke through in the bottom half of the inning.
Brandon Gour led off with a single into right field and stole second and third to get into scoring position. With Brady Vincent on first and two outs, the Mustangs tried to manufacture a run on the base paths. Vincent left for second base, but only at a job, inducing a throw to the bag. Gour immediately took off for home while Vincent did his best to avoid the tag long enough in the pickle to allow the run to count. First baseman Jase Bade just got the tag in a split second before Gour slid across the plate to keep things scoreless.
York had to wait until the third inning to get their first runner into scoring position. Emerson Brown and Cameron Early were both hit by pitches back-to-back before a line out and ground out ended the threat. The Mustangs similarly looked poised to score when Ryan Stone hit a hard grounder through the gap between third and short and Gour walked to put two men on with one out. However, pitcher James Erickson got both Durrell and Garren Post to ground out to the shortstop.
The fifth would prove to be the inning Central Maine was looking for. After another one-two-three performance from Delano, Stone worked a one-out walk to reach first. Lee Robertson beat out a double play to keep a man on first, but now with two down, and Gour doubled to left field to put him just 90 feet away from the plate.
That set the stage for Durrell. The sophomore out of Mt. Blue High School didn't connect particularly well with the pitch but made solid enough contact on it to send the ball just over the mound and skipping into shallow center field. Robertson scored easily to take the lead, and Gour came charging around third as Early prepared to fire. His throw was right on the money to the plate, but Gour slid headfirst and swiped his left hand across the plate just ahead of the tag from catcher Caden Petit.
From there, Delano kept the Hawks in check to seal the shutout victory. The sophomore from Sabattus, ME mowed down the order in the top of the sixth, picking up his fourth strikeout in the process. Petit worked a leadoff walk to begin the top of the seventh and briefly give the visitors hope for a late comeback. But a ground out, line out, and fly out quickly extinguished it to end the game.
CMCC now moves on to face #1 seed and archrival SMCC on Thursday, May 1st at The Ballpark in Old Orchard Beach, ME after the Seawolves defeated #4 UMaine-Augusta 14-0. The winner between Central Maine and Southern Maine will move directly on to Saturday's conference championship with the loser forced into an elimination game against either the Moose or Hawks to join them.
