THOMASTON — Oceanside High School’s baseball team hosted Camden Hills in their season opener April 23, handing the cross town rival a 5-4 loss.

This was a pitcher’s duel for the first four innings, as Oceanside’s Ryan Allender and Camden Hills’ Connor Graffam were on fire. The two combined to pitch 12 innings, allowing one walk while striking out a combined 16 batters. The pitchers were far ahead of the position players who combined for seven errors in the game, five of them by Oceanside. Both pitchers were able to bear down in jams as well, stranding a total of 12 runners in scoring position, eight of those from the Windjammers.

“Nice team win as Ryan Allender pitched an outstanding game and after being held in check for four innings, we got some timely hits and two great bunts from Jimmy Walker and Walker Ranney,” said coach Don Shields. “Always great to get a win over a rival, but more importantly a very good Camden Hills team that should yield a lot of heal points. I thought Camden pitcher Connor Graffam was very good and truly overpowered us for the first four innings.”

Allender got the win for the Mariners, pitching 6-2/3 innings, allowing four runs, one earned run on five hits and a walk while fanning seven. Nick Mazurek got the save, striking out the only batter he faced for the save.

Graffam pitched 5-1/3 innings, allowing five runs, four earned on six hits while striking out nine. Sam Berry pitched 2/3 of an inning with one strikeout.

Hitting for Oceanside were Zach Peaco (two singles, run, RBI), Travis Frye (single, RBI), Zac Roman (single), Mazurek (single, run), Thomas Curtis (single), and Riley Sprague, Walker Ranney and Jimmy Strong (one run each).

For Camden Hills it was Graffam (double, single, two RBIs), Berry (double, RBI), Chandler Crans (single, run), John Hall (single), and Ben Rollins, Henry Laurita and Dalton Wickenden (one run each).

The Windjammers scored first in the top of the fourth, when Crans singled and scored on a double from Graffam for a 1-0 lead.

Camden Hills struck again in the top of the fifth. Laurita reached on an error and moved to second base on a sacrifice. He advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on an error.

In the bottom of the fifth the Oceanside bats came alive with Peaco singling to start the inning. Ranney was hit by a pitch and Strong followed with a beautiful bunt that ended in a throwing error, allowing Strong to go to second and Peaco and Ranney to score tying the game at 2-2. Frye then ripped a single scoring Strong to give the Mariners a 3-2 lead they would not give up again.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Oceanside put a couple more runs on the board, Mazurek singled, Curtis singled and Sprague came in to pinch-run for Curtis. With runners on first and second, Peaco singled scoring Mazurek and moving Sprague to third on a controversial call at the bag. The Mariners finished off the scoring when Ranney laid down a suicide squeeze bunt, scoring Sprague for the 5-2 lead.

Camden Hills made it interesting in the top of the seventh. Wickenden reached on an error, Rollins walked and with two outs, Graffam ripped a single scoring Wickenden. With runners on first and third, Berry doubled scoring Rollins to make it 5-4 Oceanside. With runners on second and third, Oceanside brought in Mazurek to pitch and he struck out the only batter he faced for the save and the Oceanside win.

Oceanside goes to 1-0 on the season while Camden Hills falls to 0-1. Oceanside will travel to Waldoboro Friday, April 25 to play Medomak Valley while Camden Hills will host Winslow the same day.

Camden Hills (0-1)  0-0-0  1-1-0 2 — 4 – 5 – 2
Oceanside (1-0)     0-0-0  0-3-2 X — 5 – 7 – 5

Ron Hawkes can be reached at sports@penbaypilot.com