Noble advances in A South baseball with extra-inning win

[ **Our Communities. Our Teams. Our Future. **We’re proud to make high school sports coverage free for everyone, because these moments matter. At Maine State Credit Union, we’re here for the people and places that make Maine strong. Let’s go! Learn more at **[mainestatecu.org](http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=7274124606&iu=/6119)**.   Nolan Pomerleau of Massabesic dives back to first base as Noble’s Wesley Turnbull makes a pick-off attempt during their Class A South prelim on Tuesday in Waterboro. Pomerleau was safe on the play. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer) [Purchase this image](https://dev.mainetodaymedia.com/smugmug/upload.php?data=%7B%22src%22%3A%22https%3A%5C%2F%5C%2Fwww.pressherald.com%5C%2Fwp-content%5C%2Fuploads%5C%2Fsites%5C%2F4%5C%2F2026%5C%2F06%5C%2F43640622_20260609_baseball_3.jpg%22%2C%22caption%22%3A%22Nolan%20Pomerleau%20of%20Massabesic%20dives%20back%20to%20first%20base%20as%20Noble%27s%20Wesley%20Turnbull%20makes%20a%20pick-off%20attempt%20during%20their%20Class%20A%20South%20prelim%20on%20Tuesday%20in%20Waterboro.%20Pomerleau%20was%20safe%20on%20the%20play.%20%28Gregory%20Rec%5C%2FStaff%20Photographer%29%22%7D) View 5 photos WATERBORO — Caiden Barnes’ first three at-bats did not go well. All three ended in strikeouts against Massabesic High ace Parker Soule-Parent. But when Noble’s catcher came up with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the eighth inning against reliever Landen Richard, he said he felt all his teammates, “had my back instead of the weight on my back, so that made it real easy.” Barnes took a close but low 3-2 pitch to draw a bases-loaded walk to drive in Evan Ballard for the go-ahead run that sparked a four-run eighth that lifted Noble to a 5-1 win in a Class A South prelim on Tuesday afternoon. No. 10 Noble (8-8-1) advances to the A South quarterfinal Thursday at No. 2 South Portland (15-1). South Portland beat Noble, 5-0, on April 28. No. 7 Massabesic concludes its season at 10-7. After Barnes’ walk, Noble junior pitcher Wesley Turnbull wasted no time giving himself and his team some insurance, lashing the first pitch he saw for a two-run single to score Travis Cole (fielder’s choice) and Owen Orlando, who had been intentionally walked to bring up Barnes. Advertisement “I told myself I wanted it. I went and got it. First-pitch fastball right down the middle,” Turnbull said. Barnes then scored on a balk. Turnbull finished off his eight-inning complete game, pitching to contact and working around a two-out single by Henry Marcotte. He got the next batter, JT Barden, to hit a grounder to Orlando at short, who flipped to second baseman Sean Sullivan for the final out. “Defense helped me a lot today. I was really happy with that,” Turnbull said. TOUGH ENDING FOR MUSTANGS Massabesic posted its first 10-win regular season in the school’s Class A history and was looking to set a new program mark for total Class A wins by overtaking the 2024 team that went 9-7 in the regular season and won a playoff game against Noble. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t take that next step that we know that we had. Yeah, a tough one,” said Massabesic coach Tom Crews. Advertisement Soule-Parent, a big, strong right-hander who is headed to pitch for NCAA Division I program Sacred Heart, was in command for much of the game. He allowed thee hits and one walk while striking out 10 on 96 pitches, working seven innings for the first time this season. Noble scored an unearned and in the first inning. Alec Hale hit a fly to shallow right that was dropped. Running hard out of the box, Hale easily made it to second. Dillon May neatly executed a sacrifice bunt to push Hale to third, and Cole did his job with a sacrifice fly to left. Conversely, when Massabesic tied the game with a run in the second, it didn’t take full advantage. A would-be sacrifice fly was negated when the runner at third didn’t tag up quickly enough, and the inning ended with a miscommunication on a bunt play that led to a double-play on a foul pop. Massabesic also had two runners picked off base, one in the seventh inning, and made three errors in the field. STATISTICAL LEADERS **Noble:** Wesley Turnbull, 2-for-4, 2 RBI; 8 innings pitched, 1 run, six hits, one walk, three strikeouts; Travis Cole, 1 RBI, 1 run. **Massabesic:** Parker Soule-Parent, 7 IP, 1 unearned run, three hits, one walk, 10 strikeouts; Henry Marcotte, 2-for-4, threw out two runners attempting to steal; Nolan Pomerleau, 2 for 3, 1 run. THEY SAID IT • “I loved how (Noble pitcher Wesley Turnbull) stayed in it today. Every out, yelling, bringing up the whole team. Tough situations, battling through it.” — Noble catcher Caiden Barnes • “We put a lot of work in the past four, five, six days practicing defense because the last three, four games we have not been good defensively like we were earlier in the year. That’s how we should be playing.” — Noble coach Adam Hale Copy the Story Link Tagged: [massabesic mustangs](https://www.pressherald.com/tag/massabesic-mustangs/), [noble knights](https://www.pressherald.com/tag/noble-knights/) [](https://www.pressherald.com/author/steve-craig) [Steve CraigStaff Writer](https://www.pressherald.com/author/steve-craig) Steve Craig reports primarily about Maine’s active high school sports scene and, more recently, the Portland Hearts of Pine men's professional soccer team. His first newspaper job was covering Maine. [More by Steve Craig](https://www.pressherald.com/author/steve-craig)