PARIS — Oxford Hills is struggling at the plate to start the season.
The Vikings were shut out for the second straight game, losing 2-0 to Brewer on Thursday. Blake Littlefield pitched a complete game for the Witches, allowing two hits, striking out nine, walking two and hitting a batter.
“Our bats have been slow coming out of the gate, but the pitching’s been great,” Oxford Hills coach Shane Slicer said. “We’ve got to keep our heads up and get some more guys putting the ball in play. We’re striking out too much. But we’ve faced two good pitchers so far, and we’ll get hot a bit eventually.”
Brunswick’s Liam Scholl and Tyler Maxim a combined to hold the Vikings to one hit in a 1-0 victory on Tuesday.
Littlefield knew he had to be on the attack and had five 13-pitch innings.
“Fastball, just pound the zone and get ahead of those guys,” Littlefield said. “There’s not much else I can do if they’re not on that fastball.”
How did Brewer win?
• Oxford Hills got solid pitching from starter Cameron Pulkkinen and reliever Cassius Thibeault. Pulkkinen had 10 strikeouts in four innings and allowed only two hits, but six walks ended his day early. Thibeault had two strikeouts and didn’t allow a hit in three innings.
• The turning point came in the top of the fourth when Pulkkinen got two quick strikeouts, but a dropped third strike during Aiden McCue’s at-bat extended the inning. Anderson Clifford singled and Zac Arnold walked to load the bases. Parker Bouchard then walked to bring home McCue, and sophomore Ayden Barnard singled in Clifford for a 2-0 lead.
“Like I said before, not trying to do too much, just find a pitch I like and try to drive it and hope to help out the team drive in some runs,” Barnard said.
• Gunner Truman led off the bottom of the fourth with a single to center but got picked off at second base during Colton Jendrick’s at-bat. After Jendrick struck out and Pulkkinen reached on an error, Littlefield struck out Carter Holbrook.
• The Vikings threatened in the bottom of the seventh when Holbrook got hit by a pitch with one out and Dylan Truman singled to put runners on the corners with two outs, but Gabe Damon grounded out to end the game.
They said it
• “(Littlefield) was getting ahead of the batters as long as he didn’t try to overthrow, which happens with young pitchers. They want to all of a sudden try and blow it by somebody, and all of a sudden, they end up throwing a couple of balls. But I thought he stayed within himself well and just kept battling.” — Brewer coach Dana Corey
• “We had a third strike in the inning, and it goes out of play. And they scored that inning. So we could have been out of that inning, and we had a guy get picked, whatever. We had our opportunity the next inning, and we didn’t capitalize on it.” — Slicer
Up next
• Brewer: vs. Lewiston, noon Saturday
• Oxford Hills: at Hampden Academy, 4:15 p.m. Monday
