AUGUSTA – Bangor American Legion first baseman Zev Myerowitz doesn’t like to pull the ball because he tends to open his hips up too quickly “and my head comes off the ball.”

“So I’ve been working on going with the pitch,” said Myerowitz. He went the opposite way with three pitches and wound up with a pair of homers and a double good for six runs batted in to lead the Comrades past Augusta 9-6 in their opening-round game at the State American Legion Tournament on Saturday.

The righthanded-hitting Myerowitz also had a single to complete his 4-for-4 day, although his single was pulled to left-center.

As good a day as Myerowitz had, Monmouth’s Tip Fairchild had an even better day as he drove in nine runs with a homer and three doubles to spark a 23-3 mercy rule-shortened win over Zone 1 runner-up Penquis.

“Zev always does well in tournaments. Whenever there’s a big game, he always comes through,” said righthander Billy Chapman, who picked up the win with 7 2/3 innings of six-hit, four-run (three earned) baseball.

“I felt really good my first three at-bats,” said Myerowitz, a John Bapst High School graduate who will attend the University of Maine in the fall. “My legs tightened up after that.”

Myerowitz hit the first pitch he saw from Augusta righty Bob Webber over the right field fence to pull Bangor within 2-1 in the second inning and gave the Comrades the lead for good by doubling off the right center field fence to knock in a pair of runs in the third.

Then, in the fourth, Myerowitz capped a five-run rally by blasting a three-run homer to right center after Webber intentionally walked Andy Sullivan.

“He threw me a curve on the outside part of the plate. I have really long arms so it’s easy to go with the pitch,” said Myerowitz, whose first two-homer game of his life staked his Comrades to an 8-2 lead.

Augusta catcher Mike Vallee said Webber threw Myerowitz “a hanging curve.”

Bangor coach Jay Kemble called it “the turning point in the game.”

Andy Treadwell’s long triple to center and Tyler Jellison’s base hit made it 9-4 in the bottom of the eighth and reliever Phil Cayford, who had gotten the final out of the eighth, easily got the first two outs in the top of the ninth.

But, inexplicably, Cayford couldn’t find the plate and walked a pair of hitters before Adam Vachon ripped a two-double to right center.

Two more walks loaded the bases and force Kemble to bring Keith Nason into the game.

Nason fell behind Mike Vallee 2-0 before getting him to ground a tailing fastball to third baseman Andy Tremble, who made a nice backhanded grab and stepped on the bag to end it.

“I had finished my short throwing and coach asked me if I could go in and get an out. I felt I had an out in me. I was surprised he swung at the 2-0 pitch. It looked pretty inside to me,” said Nason.

Valle thought the pitch was a strike but said, “I shouldn’t have swung at it.”

Treadwell tripled and singled and Tremble had a pair of singles for the Comrades. Bangor had three sacrifice bunts and made just one error.

“That’s the best defensive game we’ve played all year,” said a thankful Chapman, who struck out three and walked three in his 7 2/3innings.

Caleb McKenzie and Ray Vallee had two hits each for Augusta and Brandon Cummings hit a solo homer. One of Vallee’s hits was a double.

In the Monmouth-Penquis game, Jared Lemieux’s leadoff double, Seth Emery’s triple and Fairchild’s double greeted Penquis starter Darin Spack and Monmouth never looked back.

In addition to Fairchild’s four-hit day, Monmouth’s 22-hit attack featured three hits apiece by Lemieux, Emery, Josh Stroup, and Mark Wade. Stroup had five RBIs.

Jason Weymouth had two singles and knocked in all three Penquis runs.

BANGOR 9, AUGUSTA 6

Augusta (15-11) Bangor (20-7)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

McKenzie, 3b 4 2 2 0 Cayford, ss-p 3 2 0

Vachon, 2b-p 3 1 2 2 Proctor, rf 4 0 1

R. Vallee, ss 4 0 2 0 Tremble, 3b 3 0

Whitlock, 1b 3 0 1 1 Sullivan, dh 3 1 0

M. Vallee, c-lf 5 0 0 1 Dennis, 2b 1 0

Smith, rf 4 0 0 0 Myerowitz, 1b 4 2 6

Albert, c 0 0 0 0 Hall, 2b-ss 3 0 0

Cummings, cf 4 1 1 1 Worster, c 4 0 0

Davis, dh 3 0 0 0 Treadwell, lf 4 2 0

Jose, 2b 0 0 0 0 Jellison, cf 3 0 1

Pierce, lf-rf 3 1 0 0

a- Sousa 1 0 0 0

b- Carville 0 1 0 0

Totals 34 6 8 5 Totals 32 9 12 8

a-grounded out for Davis in 9th; b-walked for McKenzie in 9th

Augusta 110 010 012 ? 6

Bangor 012 500 10x ? 9

E? Hall, Smith; LOB? Augusta 8, Bangor 12; 2B? Vachon, R. Vallee, Myerowitz; 3B? Treadwell; HR? Myerowitz 2 S? Hall, Jellison, Cayford; SF? Proctor

Augusta IP H R ER BB SO

Webber (L, 6-3) 4 6 8 8 6 1

Tupper 2 1 0 0 2 1

Vachon 2 5 1 1 0 0

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Chapman (W, 6-2) 7 2/3 6 4 3 3 3

Cayford 1 1 2 2 4 1

Nason (S-2) 1/3 0 0 0 0 0

HBP? Hall (by Webber); WP? Webber; T? 2:21; ATT? 120 (est.)

MONMOUTH 23, PENQUIS 3

Penquis (13-15) Monmouth (22-3)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Russell, ss-p 4 0 1 0 Lemieux, cf 3 2

Morrison, 3b 3 0 0 0 McCarthy, cf 1 0 0

Gabarro, 1b 3 1 1 0 Emery, ss 5 4 3

Gray, 2b-p-ss 3 1 1 0 Shaffstall, 2b 1 0

White, rf 2 1 0 0 Fairchild, 2b-1b 6 9

Weymouth, cf 2 0 2 3 Muniz, lf 3 1 1

Strout, lf 3 0 0 0 Pettingill, 3b 0 0 0

Watson, p 0 0 0 0 Stroup, 3b 5 1 5

Spack, p-c 2 0 0 0 Duchette, 1b 4 0 1

a-Annis 1 0 0 0 Guerette, 1b 2 0 0

Kane, c-2b 3 0 0 0 Daggett, p 4 1 0

Hinkley, p 1 0 1 2

Labbe, p 0 0 0 0

Buckley, c 2 3 1 0

Dumond, c 1 0 0 Wade, rf 4 3 3 0

Lake, ss 0 1 0

Totals 26 3 5 3 Totals 42 23 22 23

a- grounded out for Spack in 7th inning

Penquis 010 002 0 ? 3

Monmouth 335 372 x ? 23

E? Weymouth, Kane, Duchette, Stroup; LOB? Penquis 6, Monmouth 10; 2B? Fairchild 3, Lemieux, Emery; 3B? Emery; HR? Fairchild; SB? Weymouth

Penquis IP H R ER BB SO

Spack (L, 1-4) 1 1/3 4 6 5 1 0

Gray 1 2/3 5 5 5 3 0

Russell 2 11 10 10 3 0

Watson 1 1 2 2 2 0

Monmouth IP H R ER BB SO

Daggett (W, 6-1) 4 3 1 1 1 3

Hinkley 2 2 2 2 0 2

Labbe 1 0 0 0 0 2

HBP? White (by Daggett), WP? Hinkley 2, Daggett; Spack; T? 2:31; ATT? 145 (est.)

Coastal 9, Cole Farms 8

(Saturday)

Coastal (22-6) 200 231 010 ? 9 11 0

Cole Farms (15-10) 010 202 030 ? 8 8 2

Norton, Emmons (6), Gardner (7), Griffith (8), Furbush (9) and Rutherford; Morrison, Huff (6) and Yanni

Nova Seafood 13, New Auburn 0

(Saturday)

New Auburn (19-6) 000 000 0 ? 0 5 2

Nova Seafood (24-2) 108 031 x ? 13 12 1

Flynn, Verrill (3), Robinson (6) and Miller; Powers, Brown (7) and A. Giobbi, Bartlett (7)