SOUTH PORTLAND – The two Zone 1 representatives to the American Legion baseball state championships, with hopes high after opening-day victories, saw their seasons ended Friday during the third day of play at the Wainwright Complex.
Zone 1 champion Brewer rallied from a 10-3 deficit to take a one-run lead in the bottom of the eighth, only to have Bessey Motors of South Paris mount the final comeback to oust the Falcons 12-11.
Earlier in the day, Eric Lee and Jake Beland combined to hold Zone 1 runnerup Bangor scoreless over the final seven innings as Augusta topped the Comrades 7-3.
Four teams remain alive in the double-elimination tournament. The lone surviving unbeaten, Gayton Post of Lewiston, will face Bessey Motors in an all-Zone 3 showdown at 3:30 p.m. this afternoon.
Gayton outlasted two-time defending state champion Nova Seafood of Portland 8-7 in Friday’s third game. Nova Seafood will face Augusta in an elimination game at 11 a.m. today.
Bessey Motors (21-3) had little luck the first time around the batting order against Brewer righthander Chase Daniels, who struck out six of the first nine batters he faced.
But the second time around proved different, as Bessey Motors was able to generate some baserunners, and that ultimately led to a eight-run uprising in the bottom of the fourth that gave the Zone 3 runnersup a sudden 9-3 lead.
Bessey Motors capitalized on five walks – with all of those runners scoring — during a rally that included just two hits, both by Evan Humphrey.
He singled to left to start the inning, then capped it off with a grand slam to left with two outs on a first-pitch fastball that was Daniels’ final pitch of the day.
“As the game went on we just took a better approach at the plate, put the ball in play, and it worked for us,” said Humphrey.
Bessey Motors added a run in the fifth to take a seven-run lead, but Brewer countered with a big inning of its own.
The Falcons (16-7) scored five runs in the top of the sixth, an uprising fueled by second baseman Brandon Gendreau’s best Dustin Pedroia impersonation – a two-run homer to left after a leadoff single by Tyler French.
“I think that’s his first home run of the year, and I kept telling people that it was going to take that one big hit to get us going,” said Brewer coach Chris Morris. “He gave us that spark.”
Oxford Hills rightfielder Dan Place foiled a Brewer rally in the sixth by racing back to rob Daniels of an extra-base hit and an RBI with a spectacular catch near the right-field fence.
But French soon brought Brewer all the way back, first with some solid relief pitching as he retired the first seven batters he faced, then with a three-run triple to deep center that gave the Falcons an 11-10 lead in the top of the eighth.
But Bessey Motors answered last, scoring twice in the bottom of the inning.
Singles by Andrew Kenniston, Matt Verrier and Brandon Chase loaded the bases with no one out before Cody Hadley plated a run with a fielder’s choice and Ethan Davidson drew a two-out walk with the bases loaded to give his team the lead back.
“These [nine-inning] games are a roller coaster, and it’s hard as a coach, too,” said Bessey Motors coach Shane Slicer “You get up by six or seven and think, ‘let’s put them away, let’s do this and that.’ But you’ve really got to relax because you still have the whole game in front of you.”
Chase had a double and two singles to account for three of Bessey Motors’ eight hits. French led Brewer with a double, two singles and four RBIs, while Daniels, Eric White and Pat McEwen each singled twice.
Earlier in the day, Lee frustrated the Bangor bats with a persistent offering of off-speed pitches.
He held the Comrades to four hits over eight innings while striking out six and walking two before giving way to Beland, who pitched a scoreless ninth.
Lee’s effort followed a similar performance a day earlier by another curveballing lefthander, Nick DiBiase of Nova Seafood, who held Bangor to one run on six hits in a 12-1 win.
“Give all the credit to Lee, he kept us off-balance, we didn’t stay back and we just couldn’t get anything going offensively,” said Bangor coach Dave Morris. “We had a great season, and I’m proud of the kids.
But when you get down and they know you can hit fastballs, they’re not going to throw you too many fastballs.”
Bangor (19-6) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first when Anthony Capuano pulled a two-run double down the right-field line after Jordan Clarke reached on a one-out error and Devin Lyshon followed with a ground single to the shortstop hole.
Augusta (19-7) got a run back in the bottom of the inning on an RBI double to right by Jason Burns off Bangor starter Curtis Worcester.
Bangor made it 3-1 in the second when Josiah Hartley hit a 400-foot leadoff triple off the base of the center field fence and scored on a groundout by Seth Freudenberger.
But the Comrades managed two hits the rest of the way, and Augusta took control with three runs in the third and three more runs in the fourth.
Consecutive RBI hits by Luke Duncklee, Charlie Partridge (double) and Burns sparked the third-inning uprising, while Duncklee’s two-run single fueled the fourth-inning rally.
Bangor lefthander Joe Stanevicz kept the Comrades within striking distance with 4 2/3 innings of three-hit relief with no earned runs allowed.
Partridge led Augusta with a double and two singles, while Burns doubled and singled and Duncklee singled twice.
Lyshon was Bangor’s lone repeat hitter with two singles.
Bangor (19-6) 210 000 000 — 3 5 2
Augusta (19-7) 103 300 00x — 7 9 1
Worcester, Stanevicz (4) and Morris; Lee, Beland (9) and Burns
Brewer (16-7) 021 005 030 — 11 13 3
Bessey Motors (21-3) 001 810 02x — 12 8 6
Daniels, Bartol (4), French (5), McLain (8) and Richards; Croy, Hadley (6), Humphrey (9) and Verrier