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BANGOR – Baseball tournaments can be nearly as much about momentum as they are about talent.
The Bangor Comrades used the best of both Monday to defeat Zone 1 rival Brewer 2-1 in an elimination game of the state American Legion baseball tournament at Mansfield Stadium.
Brian Hackett pitched an eight-hitter in outdueling Brewer’s Corey Cushing, and the 21-7 Comrades scratched out two early runs to earn a matchup Tuesday against defending state and champion Nova Seafood of Portland.
Monmouth, which edged Gardiner 3-2 in another elimination game Monday, will face Andrews Post of Portland on Tuesday.
Andrews and Nova Seafood were tied 3-3 through three innings of their winners’ bracket matchup Monday night when the game was suspended due to lightning. The game will resume at noon Tuesday.
Brewer, which defeated Bangor twice during the regular season and twice more during the Zone 1 tournament, ends its season at 25-4.
Hackett threw 132 pitches and made just one mistake – a two-out home run by Kevin McAvoy in the top of the fifth.
He struck out nine, walked just one, and retired the last 12 batters he faced.
“I had a lot of movement on most of my pitches,” he said. “I didn’t have control all of the time, but if I don’t know where it’s going, neither do they.”
Hackett (3-1) did have to escape some Brewer threats, particularly in the third inning when the Falcons loaded the bases with one out on singles by Andrew Otis and Matt Grimes around a walk to Jeff Miller.
But Hackett struck out McAvoy looking, then got Pat Moran to fly out to right to end the inning.
The Falcons put two runners aboard with no outs in the sixth, but Hackett threw out a baserunner at third on an attempted sacrifice by Nye Gifford, struck out Chris Maguire, and then got Otis to pop out in fair territory to catcher Gordon Webb, who maneuvered around Otis to catch the shallow pop in front of the plate.
“We had eight hits, and had our chances early, it was just a case of not being able to score runs,” said Brewer coach David Morris.
Cushing (5-1) was even more efficient than Hackett in defeat, throwing just 87 pitches over eight innings with three strikeouts and three walks – two intentional.
“I was trying to hit my spots,” Cushing said. “My changeup worked well and kept them off balance. I don’t overpower people, so I just try to let my defense do the job, and obviously it worked because they didn’t make any errors. Bangor just came through with some hits when they need them.”
Alex Means had a double and a single for Bangor, while McAvoy had a single to go with his home run and Joe Robicheau singled twice for Brewer.
Hackett hit a two-out double to left-center in the bottom of the first and scored the game’s first run on a line single by Josh Young that handcuffed Grimes in left field.
Bangor’s second run also had its origin in a double, this one a leadoff hit to left in the fourth by Scott Hackett. He took third on a groundout by Eric Anderson, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jason Eremita.
It wasn’t the 12-run seventh inning outburst that rallied Bangor from a 6-0 deficit against Bessey Motors of South Paris in the Comrades’ first elimination game a day earlier, but it was just enough offense to survive and advance.”
“The last week or two we’d been struggling at the plate, a lot of pop-ups and a lot of quick innings,” said Hackett. “Then something just clicked and we got all our breaks in one inning. Momentum’s a big thing in baseball, if not all sports, and it started going our way yesterday and hopefully we can continue it.”
In Monday’s second game, Monmouth capitalized on three Gardiner errors to rally from a 2-1 deficit with two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Sean Holbrook had an RBI double during that rally, while Tavis Hasenfus had an RBI single.
This game was scoreless until the seventh, when Stefan Black homered and Nick Acheson had an RBI double to give Gardiner a 2-0 lead.
Monmouth cut the gap to 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh before taking the lead an inning later.
Mike Eaton earned the pitching win in relief of Monmouth starter Ben Seefeldt. Mike Burdin pitched a complete-game six-hitter for Gardiner.
(Monday’s First Game)
Brewer (25-4) 000 010 000 -1 8 0
Bangor (22-7) 100 100 00x -2 8 0
Cushing and Robicheau; B. Hackett and Webb
(Monday’s Second Game)
Gardiner (17-10) 000 000 200 -2 8 6
Monmouth (22-3) 000 000 12x -3 6 0
Burdin and Black; Seefeldt, Eaton (8) and Kibler, Hasenfus (7)
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