Harvey & Graham Shut Down Raiders as Houlton Beats WA 9-2; Recap
Welcome back, Houlton!
The Houlton Shiretowners baseball team were anxiously awaiting to play their first regular season game since spring of 2019. Houlton was unable to field a baseball team in 2021 due to a lack of interest and the school joined a co-op team with Southern Aroostook for the season. This year the Shires have a full squad and are looking to get back to the top of Class C North.
Why not wait a little longer?
Houlton was scheduled to open up the season a week earlier against Calais, but the weather had other plans and the Shires had to wait a little bit longer to get their first regular season action. On Saturday the Shires traveled to take on the Washington Academy Raiders who came in with a 3-0 record.
Big third inning leads Shires to victory
The Shires took advantage of having the first chance at bat, producing 2 runs in the top of the first inning to give starting pitcher Garrett Harvey a lead to work with. Houlton would use a 6-run third inning to put the game out of reach and take an 8-0 lead over Washington Academy. Thadon Gentle had an RBI triple and Cody Johnston hit an RBI double to lead the Shires offensive onslaught in the third inning.
Harvey and Graham shut down the Raiders
Garrett Harvey pitched 5 strong innings for Houlton giving up 2 earned runs on 3 hits and recording 5 strikeouts to pick up the win for Houlton. Silas Graham pitched 2 innings of 1 hit-baseball in relief, while striking out 4 Raiders batters. Thadon Gentle, Graham, and Bronson Hanning all had 2 hits apiece for the Shires, and Brock Thompson drove in 3 runs.
Quick turnaround for the Shires
Houlton is 1-0 and will host the Caribou Vikings on Monday.