Holmes hurls Cougars to win

LISBON FALLS -- The Dirigo baseball team certainly benefitted from their ace in the hole last Wednesday.

That ace was big Ben Holmes, who threw a one-hitter and stuck 13 in a 4-1 win over Lisbon. It was Holmes and catcher Jake Dowland who kept the Greyhound batters swinging at the air or off balance throughout the game.

Dirigo had taken the lead for good when Holmes stole home with two outs in the fourth inning. Spencer Trenoweth had two strikes on him, when the call was made and Holmes was ready.

"It was supposed to be planned," said Holmes. "The second time (third base coach Dave Berry) was like, Do it! Go! And thankfully Spencer didn't swing."

Dirigo coach Ryan Palmer called it a gutsy call, with tongue in cheek. But the Cougars needed to make something happen.

The inning was prolonged when Chad Snowman scampered back to third base, after having taken a wide turn, on Holmes' infield single. Cody St. Germain came through with a sac fly, with Holmes moving to third.

Lisbon had grabbed a 1-0 lead, following a Dalton Dunphy wind blown double in the second. The Greyhounds had something going in the sixth when Brandon Hovey reached third with one out. The third pitch to Kyle Priddle bounced in the dirt and rolled toward the Lisbon on-deck circle. Cougar catcher Jake Dowland pounced on it, pivoted and on one-knee threw a strike to Holmes, who applied the tag on a bang-bang play.

"That was too close for comfort," said Dowland between innings. Palmer lauded the senior backstop in the team's first four games.

"Jake has been solid back there. Not much gets by him and if any do, he is right on it. He really showed his hustle right there."

The Cougars finally received some offense in the top of the seventh inning. Trenoweth doubled and freshman Tyler Frost added a pinch-hit RBI single down the right field line. Hunter Ross tripled to right-center and then caught a sinking foul ball for the final out of the game.