BANGOR – Top seeds Brewer and Bangor traveled different routes to opening-day victories Friday at the American Legion Zone 1 baseball tournament at Mansfield Stadium.

Top-ranked Brewer was required to rally from a five-run deficit to shade No. 6 Presque Isle 9-7, while No. 2 Bangor scored twice in each of the first two innings and rode the shutout pitching of Anthony DeRosa and Kyle Leeman to a 9-0 victory over No. 5 Penquis.

Brewer (20-3) plays the loser of Friday’s late game between No. 3 Trenton and No. 4 Waldo at 4 p.m. Saturday, while Bangor (19-4) faces the Trenton-Waldo winner at 8 p.m. Presque Isle (11-12) meets Penquis (11-12) in a noon elimination game.

Waldo was leading Trenton 2-1 after 6 2/3 innings Friday night when the game was suspended due to fog. The game will resume today at 10 a.m.

Presque Isle, which defeated Brewer 16-12 during the final weekend of the season, put another scare into the Falcons in the postseason opener.

The Patriots did it not with the long ball, but a succession of singles that nicked Brewer gloves or just eluded the reach of Falcon fielders. Presque Isle had 10 hits off Brewer starter Jim Nicknair through three innings, including RBI singles by Michael Cleary, Tyler Lamoreaux and Dustin Haines and a suicide squeeze by Logan York as the Patriots scored five runs in the third to take a 7-2 lead.

Brewer fought back behind Joe Robicheau’s four innings of two-hit shutout relief, patient offense and some high-quality defense by left fielder Andrew Otis, who twice ranged into the left-center-field gap to rob Presque Isle of extra bases.

“I thought Jimmy pitched a good game, but they nickel-and-dimed him a little,” said Brewer coach David Morris, “When Joey came in and shut them down, that was huge, and the way we responded with our bats showed maturity, because a lot of younger teams would get behind like we did and might get frustrated.”

The Falcons drew within 7-4 in the fifth. Kevin McAvoy scored from third as part of a delayed double steal with Prentiss Swett when the ball came loose as Presque Isle catcher Harry Austin applied the tag at the plate, and Cam Wadleigh followed with an RBI double.

Brewer scored four runs on five hits an inning later for an 8-7 lead as Ricky Adams hit an RBI single, Robicheau followed with a game-tying two-run single and Wadleigh added his second RBI double in as many innings.

Swett hit an RBI single in the eighth to produce Brewer’s final run.

Swett and Robicheau each finished with two singles for Brewer. Cleary and Lamoreaux had three singles each for Presque Isle, while York singled twice.

In the second game, DeRosa scattered four hits over seven innings, striking out nine and walking four.

“During the season I’ve had some trouble with my control, but tonight I felt a lot better,” said DeRosa. “I could spot my fastball inside and outside and my curveball felt great, too.”

Bangor got big games offensively from shortstop Ian Edwards, who singled, tripled and drove home three runs, and No. 9 hitter Tom Crews, who singled twice, walked, scored twice and stole three bases.

DeRosa provided himself an immediate lead, hitting a 2-2 pitch down the right-field line for a two-out, two-run, opposite-field double in the bottom of the first that drove home Shane Walton and Edwards.

“It was a fastball inside and I threw the bat out at it,” said DeRosa, who also singled in the game. “I was a little late, but it ended up going into right field.”

Bangor capitalized on Tim McCarthy’s early wildness to add two runs in the second. Crews hit a one-out single to center, stole second and scored on a pair of wild pitches, the second after Kyle Vanidestine walked. Walton was hit by a pitch, then Edwards hit a sacrifice fly to center to drive home Vanidestine to make it 4-0.

McCarthy settled down and held Bangor scoreless until the sixth, when Bangor broke the game open with three more runs, the key blow Edwards’ two-out, two-run triple to right-center.

The Comrades added two runs off Penquis reliever David White in the seventh, an uprising sandwiched around a two-hour, five-minute rain delay. Crews had an RBI single to spark that rally.

Penquis’ best chance to score came off Leeman in the eighth, after Joey Kane and Eric Day each singled with one out. Dan Beatham followed with a two-out single to left, but DeRosa – who move to the outfield late in the game – had one more strike in his arm and threw Kane out at the plate.

Kane and Day each had two singles for the Navigators.

(First Game)

Presque Isle (11-12) 115 000 000 – 7 13 4

Brewer (20-3) 200 025 01x – 9 9 4

Cleary, Hersey (6) and Austin; Nicknair, Robicheau (6) and Wadleigh

(Second Game)

Penquis (11-12) 000 000 000 – 0 8 0

Bangor (19-4) 220 003 20x – 9 8 1

McCarthy, White (7) and Lancisi; DeRosa, Leeman (8) and Webb