After several postponements that caused the game to be delayed two whole weeks, the Presque Isle High School baseball team was finally able to renew their rivalry with Caribou under the lights at Dyer Field Tuesday night.

The Vikings started off the game hot at the plate, driving home three runs on consecutive singles and a sac fly to kick off the top of the first, but after seven, the number three still shone bright on the scoreboard in right field, those being their only runs of the entire game. 

Presque Isle freshman Evan Chapman led off for the Wildcats, reaching first on a hit-by-pitch and making his way to third over the next at bat before being brought home by junior Jackson Maynard putting the ball into play to cut the lead to two. 

That would be how the game would stay for a long while, defensive plays on either side keeping the score stagnant until the bottom of the fifth, where senior Ben Graham would kickstart a rally for the home squad by dropping a single into center field, scoring seconds later on a double from Chapman. 

The freshman would equalize the contest shortly thereafter on an RBI from senior Chance Bragan before a Maynard single brought home classmate Quinn Demerchant to give the Wildcats the lead for the first time all night. 

Caribou would threaten again in the seventh, putting runners on second and third, but Maynard outdueled the middle of the Vikings lineup, striking out two before third baseman Micheal Langley came in to deliver the final out on a single pitch that was grounded back to himself. 

“That was our best game all season,” Maynard said after the win. “We finally started catching balls in the outfield and it helps a lot when you do that.”

He finished the game with 4 k’s in 6 ⅔ innings pitched and the win. 

“Out of the gate I was just ready to kill them,” said Bragan, who made key defensive plays throughout the game to keep the Wildcats in it. “We were just a team ready to play. This our first game really coming together as a team. I couldn’t be prouder of Jackson and of Mike for coming in with that one pitch at the end. One through nine, everyone put the bat on the ball tonight and all in all, I’m just so proud of my team.”

Presque Isle will hit the road this Saturday for an afternoon doubleheader in Bangor with John Bapst.