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BANGOR – One day remains in the 75th state American Legion baseball tournament, and three teams still have championship dreams.
Zone 1 runnerup Bangor made it a three-team race early Wednesday morning, rallying from a 4-0 deficit with seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to stun defending national champion Nova Seafood 7-5 at Mansfield Stadium.
“That was one of the biggest wins in the history of Bangor Legion baseball,” said Comrades coach Dr. John Winkin of the game, which started after a 1-hour, 15-minute rain delay. “They’re the defending national champs, and they’re in the driver’s seat in this tournament – I think this is just an immense win.
“And the thing I like the best is that we came back. We did what had to be done to win.”
Bangor, now 3-1 in tournament play, will face Andrews Post of Portland at 4 p.m. Wednesday. The winner of that game will face Nova Seafood at 7 p.m. in a winner-take-all championship game.
Earlier on Tuesday, Nova Seafood defeated Andrews Post 8-6 in the conclusion of a game suspended Monday night due to lightning, and Andrews Post eliminated Monmouth 20-7.
Nova Seafood, the four-time defending state champion, scored three unearned runs in the second inning of the late game on an RBI single by Ryan Flaherty followed by a two run single by Andrew Giobbi. Nova pushed its lead to 4-0 in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Mike D’Andrea that scored Chris LeRoy.
But Bangor starter Josh Young – seven innings pitched, two earned runs allowed – and reliever Anthony DeRosa combined to hold the Zone 4 runnerup to one run on one hit over the last five innings, and that kept the Comrades close enough to make a comeback.
It came all at once, and evoked memories of Bangor’s 12-run seventh-inning uprising against Bessey Motors on Day 2 of the tourney that allowed the Comrades to play more than the minimum two games.
Bangor was held scoreless on three hits through five innings by Nova’s Chris Lussier, but the Comrades finally broke through offensively in the sixth, and also capitalized on three Nova Seafood errors.
As was the case against Bessey Motors, Bangor catcher Gordon Webb had a pair of hits in the decisive rally, this time a double that plated Young with the Comrades’ first run and a two-run single that drove home Alex Means and Brian Hackett with the final runs of the inning.
Means added a two-run single during the rally, while Jordan Heath had an RBI single.
“We had some big hits when we needed them,” said Winkin. “Means got a real big hit for us, and Gordie Webb delivers in the clutch.”
Flaherty had an RBI single for Nova Seafood in the eighth, but DeRosa prevented further damage and then pitched a scoreless ninth.
Webb finished with a double and two singles for Bangor, while Means singled twice. Flaherty and LeRoy had two singles each for Nova Seafood.
In the day’s second game, second baseman John O’Brion led Andrews to its seven-inning victory over Monmouth with a 5-for-5 performance – three doubles and two singles good for seven RBIs – in a game that included a 58-minute rain delay after the fifth inning.
Joey Martin added two doubles and a single to Andrews’ 21-hit attack, while Anthony Fasulo doubled and singled twice and Malcolm Cone-Coleman and Andrew Nodine each singled twice.
Tavis Hasenfus had a two-run double as Monmouth took a 4-0 lead in the top of the first.
Andrews rebounded with three runs in the bottom of the first and scored five more runs in the second to take an 8-3 lead.
Andrews scored at least one run in each of its six at-bats, capping off the onslaught with eight runs in the bottom of the sixth that led to the 10-run rule coming into play.
Hasenfus had a single to go with his double, while Pat Duchette and Justin Denbow each singled twice for Monmouth.
In Tuesday’s first game, Nova Seafood used five innings of one-run relief pitching by Josh Linscott to avenge three earlier losses this summer to Andrews Post.
The game was resumed in the top of the fourth with the teams locked in a 3-3 tie, and Nova never trailed after scoring a run in the bottom of the inning.
Nova Seafood added a single run in the sixth, then pushed its lead to 8-3 with three runs in the seventh as Chris Burleson hit a two-run triple and scored on a single by Mike D’Andrea.
Linscott yielded a run in the eighth before Andrews scored its final runs in the ninth on a two-run double by Joe Fessenden.
Giobbi led Nova’s 12-hit attack with three singles, while Burleson had a triple and a single, Linscott doubled and singled, and D’Andrea added two singles and two RBIs.
O’Brion and David Neally each had three of Andrews’ 10 hits, with O’Brion hitting a double and two singles and Neally contributing three singles. Fessenden doubled twice, while Fasulo also doubled.
(Tuesday’s First Game)
Andrews Post (24-2) 300 000 012 -6 10 2
Nova Seafood (21-6) 201 101 30x -8 12 1
Moran, Arsenault (4), Cone-Coleman (5), Call (7), Boyle (8) and Neally; Lussier, Burleson (1), Linscott (4), D’Andrea (9) and Giobbi
(Tuesday’s Second Game)
Monmouth (22-4) 401 200 0 – 7 7 3
Andrews Post (25-2) 251 128 x – 20 21 1
Plourde, Jillson (2), Seefeldt (5), Ogden (6) and Hasenfus; Foley, Call (2), Fessenden (4), Boyle (7) and Neally, Blais (7)
(Tuesday’s Third Game)
Nova Seafood (21-7) 003 100 010 – 5 8 5
Bangor (23-7) 000 007 00x – 7 8 2
Lussier, Ives (6), Flaherty (6), D’Andrea (8) and Giobbi; Young, DeRosa (8) and Webc
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