There is likely a more conventional way to open a season than a walk-off suicide squeeze.

But that's how Wiscasset High School boys baseball team started the year on Friday, April 24.

Playing at home due to Boothbay Region's fields being wet, both Wiscasset teams opened the year with a win, but in very different fashions.

On the baseball diamond, the Wiscasset Wolverines (1-0 overall) picked up where they left a year ago with a narrow, 2-1, walk-off victory. Starter Tyler Bailey, who won the Western Class Finals game for Wiscasset a year ago, didn't surrender a hit to Boothbay Region (0-1 overall) in seven innings of work.

Bailey also knocked home the winning run.

With both teams locked in a 1-1 tie, Wiscasset was able to get two runners on base in the bottom of the eighth innings. Boothbay Region intentionally walked Daren Wood to load the bases, which set the stage for Bailey.

With one out, Bailey pushed the pitch up the first base line while Grant Hefler sprinted from third. By the time Boothbay Region was able to recover the ball, Hefler had crossed the plate and given Wiscasset its first victory of the 2015 season.

With temperatures slinking back into the 30s near the tail end of the game, the cold became a factor as neither team was able to mount an offensive threat. Bailey said the cold did affect him for a while.

“In the middle, my arm was getting a little tired because it was so cold out,” he said. “Near the end I felt pretty good, and I actually wanted to go another inning, but it made sense not to go for another.”

Wood and Tyler Flavin pitched the eighth inning instead, and despite a lead-off walk, Wiscasset was able to escape without surrendering any runs.

In addition to the game-winning RBI, Bailey pitched seven innings without allowing a hit, and 16 strikeouts. But when he was on the mound, he said he wasn't thinking about a no-hitter.

“I didn't really think about it; I wasn't really focused on that, I was just worried about (getting outs).”

For Boothbay Region, the close loss contained some highlights.

Pitcher Nick Burge pitched the entire game for the Seahawks, and Wiscasset wasn't able to muster much of offensive threat.

Boothbay Region Coach Josh Garneau said he was impressed with his team's effort.

“I thought they played real well,” he said. “They competed, they made a lot of smart plays in the field, which is what we have been working on, pitcher Nick Burge pitched a great game — threw strikes and kept them off-balance with his off-speed pitches. Had a couple rallies, (if we) get a little more timely hitting, we should be all set.”

Garneau said Boothbay would continue to work on its hitting. The Seahawks were able to score on Bailey when Julian Aponte reached on a fielding error, and reached home after two subsequent Wiscasset errors.

The two games this season between Wiscasset and Boothbay Region will simply be flip-flopped. Wiscasset will travel to Boothbay Harbor on May 26.