BANGOR, Maine — Post 51 of Oakland clinched a berth in the American Legion Zone 1 baseball state tournament Saturday afternoon by defeating Brewer 8-5 in an elimination-round game at Husson University.
Post 51, which advanced to states as the Zone 2 tournament champion a year ago before being shifted to Zone 1, needs to defeat defending state champion Coffee News of Bangor both Saturday night and Sunday at 7 p.m. in order to win the Zone 1 title.
Both Post 51 and Bangor will represent Zone 1 at states, which begin Wednesday at the Wainwright Complex in South Portland.
Top-seeded Post 51 is 16-5. No. 3 Brewer, which won the 2013 and 2014 Zone 1 tournaments, ended its season with a 15-7 record.
Brewer jumped out to a 3-1 lead through 1½ innings against Post 51 starter Cody Martin, but Martin then held the Falcons hitless from the third inning through the seventh while Post 51 gradually pulled ahead with a run in the bottom of the third and two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings off Brewer starter Carter DeRedin.
Devin Warren came on in the eighth inning to earn his second save of the tournament for Post 51.
Brewer (15-7) 120 000 020 — 5 7 1
Post 51 (16-5) 101 022 11x — 8 15 1
Martin, Warren (8) and Gettig; DeRedin, Maxsimic (8) and Maxsimic, DeRedin (8)
