Mt. Blue High School pitcher Joe Gilbert was drilled twice by line drives back up the middle in Friday's 13-3 loss to Skowhegan. The senior is fine, and pitched one more inning after the second incident.

In the second inning, Gilbert had a Matt Hisler liner go off his foot for a base hit. In the fourth, Hisler sent a hard line drive back up the middle. The ball found Gilbert just below the ribs on his right side, but the pitcher quickly found the ball and threw to first for the final out of the inning before dropping his glove and jogging off the field in pain.

Gilbert was back on the hill for the fifth. Coach Craig Collins said Gilbert reported pain, but said he'd been hit harder as the Cougars' quarterback during last fall's football season.

"He's going to have a bruise there, but he's fine," Collins said.