MILLINOCKET – Struggling for much of the American Legion baseball season, Tom Lasko recently asked to be moved to the bottom of the Lincoln Lumber batting order.

Coach John Montgomery obliged, and since then Lasko has treated the No. 8 spot like a second cleanup opportunity, hitting a pair of home runs Saturday as Lincoln earned a 5-3, 9-7 Zone 1 sweep of Calais at DiFrederico Field.

“Tom struggled at the beginning of the summer in the five or six hole,” said Montgomery of his catcher, a member of the Husson College football team who didn’t play competitive baseball this spring.

“He came up last Saturday and asked me if he could move down in the lineup. We put Tom in the eight hole, and he’s been tearing the cover off the ball.”

The Lumber (11-6) are in line to finish at least second in the Zone 1 North Division after sweeping a Calais team that entered the weekend with similar aspirations. The Suns fell to 7-9 heading into Monday’s rematch with Lincoln at Calais, but remain in contention to qualify for the six-team Zone 1 tournament that begins July 29.

“Lincoln went out and hit the ball good today,” said Calais coach Ken Macdonald. “They hit the ball on the nose. We weren’t making the plays, and there were a lot of close calls.”

Lasko homered in each game, including a two-out, two-run shot in the fourth inning of the opener that gave the Lumber a 3-2 lead. That came two innings after he nearly took Calais right-hander Ryan McLay deep, only to get under the ball just enough to produce a flyout to deep left.

“The first time I got up I was just looking for a pitch to hit,” Lasko said. “He threw me one and I just missed it. The second time I got up I was thinking, ‘I’m going to make him go deeper in the count,’ and he threw me a pitch to hit and I finally got it.”

Lincoln scored two insurance runs an inning later. Nate Cousineau doubled with one out, went to third on a wild pitch and scored as Jason Murchison reached on one of seven Calais errors in the contest. Cousineau stole second, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a throwing error.

Third baseman Matt Leino preserved the lead with a pair of stellar defensive plays. Calais had runners on first and third with no outs in the sixth. After Cory Colbeth popped out, McLay hit a hard grounder to Leino, who froze baserunner Steve Colbeth at third before throwing out McLay at first. Zack Luddington then flied out to center to end the threat.

Calais put runners on first and third with no outs again in the seventh, but scored just once. Leino prevented a larger uprising, going to the ground to make a backhanded stop of a Scott Macdonald grounder. Leino threw to second for the forceout, and second baseman Brody Artes then threw out Derek Maloney at home to complete the double play. Calais did score when Josh Francis drew a bases-loaded walk, but right-hander Steve Whitney retired the next batter to cap off a complete-game win.

In the second game, Calais broke out to a 3-0 lead. Steve Colbeth, who went 4 for 7 in the doubleheader, singled and scored on an error in the second inning, and James Ramsdell extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a two-run homer in the third.

A bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Leino drew Lincoln within 3-1 in the bottom of the inning. Lasko’s leadoff single in the fourth sparked a three-run rally that put the Lumber ahead. Tyler Thompson singled, and Matt Wark and Whitney followed with RBI hits before the final run came home on a fielder’s choice by Murchison.

Lincoln added five runs in the fifth to extend its lead to 9-3 lead, a rally ignited by Lasko’s leadoff homer and also featuring an RBI single by Wark and a two-run single by Murchison.

Calais scored four runs in the sixth. Scott Macdonald was hit by a pitch and Ramsdell doubled, and both runners scored when Steve Colbeth pulled a double down the right-field line. Francis singled home Colbeth, went to third on a throwing error and scored the Suns’ final run on Cory Colbeth’s sacrifice fly.

Lincoln had 12 hits in the second game, with two each from Wark, Whitney, Murchison, Lasko, and Thompson.

LUMBER 5, SUNS 3

(First game)

Calais Lincoln

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

McLean rf 3 0 1 0 Ham lf 4 0 1 0

Macdonald cf 4 1 0 0 Wark cf 3 1 0 0

Ja. Ramsdell c 4 0 1 0 Cousineau ss 3 0

S. Colbeth 1b 3 1 2 0 Whitney p 3 0

Francis 3b 2 1 0 0 Murchison rf 3 1 0

C. Colbeth ss 4 0 0 0 Leino 3b 3 0

McLay p 3 0 2 0 Michaud 1b 3 0 0

Luddington lf 3 0 0 1 Lasko c 3 1 2

Lewey 2b 1 0 0 0 Thompson 2b 0 0 0

D. Maloney ph 1 0 1 0 Artes 2b 1 0

Totals 28 3 7 1 Totals 26 5 5 2

Calais 020 000 1 ? 3

Lincoln 100 220 x ? 5

E?C. Colbeth 2, Francis 2, Lewey, S. Colbeth, Ja. Ramsdell; LOB? Calais 9, Lincoln 5; 2B?McLay; Cousineau; HR?Lasko; DP?Lincoln 1; SB?Lewey; Wark, Artes, Murchison

Calais IP H R ER BB SO

McLay (L, 2-3) 6 5 5 2 1 7

Lincoln IP H R ER BB SO

Whitney (W, 3-0) 7 7 3 2 5 5

HBP?Thompson (by McLay); WP?McLay 2; PB?Lasko; T?1:30

LUMBER 9, SUNS 7

(Second game)

Calais (7-9) Lincoln (11-6)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

McLean rf-2b 4 1 1 0 Ham p 3 1 1 0

Macdonald cf 3 1 1 0 Wark cf 4 2 2 2

Ja. Ramsdell lf 3 2 2 2 Cousineau ss 1 0

S. Colbeth 1b-p 3 2 2 2 Whitney 1b 4 1

Francis 3b 3 1 1 1 Murchison rf 4 0 3

C. Colbeth ss 2 0 1 1 Leino 3b 2 1

D. Maloney p-1b 2 0 0 0 Worster lf 1 0

McLay p 1 0 0 0 Houghton lf 2 0 0

Je. Ramsdell c 3 0 0 0 Lasko c 4 2 1

Leblanc rf 1 0 0 0 Thompson 2b 3 2 0

Sullivan 2b 2 0 0 0 Artes 2b 0 0 0

Totals 27 7 8 6 Totals 28 9 12 8

Calais 012 004 0 ? 7

Lincoln 001 350 x ? 9

E?Francis; Cousineau, Leino, Murchison; LOB?Calais 2, Lincoln 9; 2B?Macdonald, Ja. Ramsdell, S. Colbeth; Houghton; HR?Ja. Ramsdell; Lasko; SF?C. Colbeth; Leino; SB?Wark, Cousineau, Murchison

Calais IP H R ER BB SO

D. Maloney 3 1/3 5 3 3 3 1

S. Colbeth (L, 2-1) 2/3 5 5 5 2 1

McLay 2 2 1 1 0 2

Lincoln IP H R ER BB SO

Ham (W, 4-2) 7 8 7 6 0 5

HBP?Macdonald (by Ham); Leino (by S. Colbeth), Cousineau (by McLay); WP?Ham; T?1:47; ATT?75 (est.)