STANDISH – Joel Neill was one of the elder statesmen on a Hampden Academy baseball team that came up short of earning a trip to the Eastern Maine Class A playoffs this season.

Postseason for Neill finally arrived Friday night, and he capitalized on the opportunity by helping the East to an 8-6 victory in the 2007 Maine High School Senior All-Star Baseball Classic played at Mahaney Diamond on the campus of Saint Joseph’s College.

“It was a great opportunity,” said Neill, who will attend the University of Southern Maine in the fall. “I had played with a lot of these guys in the underclassmen game last year, and there was great team chemistry.”

Starting in right field and batting ninth, Neill contributed two singles, an RBI and two runs scored to the East’s 13-hit attack.

“The first time up I hit a fastball right down the middle,” said Neill, ” and then the next time I just hit a little dribbler to shortstop that I was able to beat out.”

Bucksport’s Chris Maguire added three singles and two RBIs for the East, while Jarrett Lukas of Old Town – honored as the state’s Mr. Baseball earlier in the evening – had a triple, single and three RBIs and Brewer’s Jim Nicknair singled twice.

Maguire also earned the pitching win by allowing one run in three innings of relief, while Lukas got the game’s final four outs for the save.

“I’ve felt pretty relaxed since Legion started,” said Maguire, who also had three hits in the Maine-New Hampshire Senior All-Star Game played last Monday in Portland.

Lukas was hit by the game’s first pitch, stole second and scored on a one-out single to left by Maguire to give the East a 1-0 first-inning lead.

The East then extended its lead in the second inning, with Neill hitting an RBI single to center, the first of four-straight run-producing hits off West starter Ben Ives of Deering of Portland.

Lukas followed with his second hit in as many innings, a two-run triple to right center.

“[Ives] had me going pretty good going away with his off-speed stuff,” said Lukas. “but then he got a fastball up.”

Brendan Weed of Winslow and Maguire followed with an RBI singles to left as the East extended its lead to 5-0 and sent the West to its bullpen for lefthander Jake Pellitier of Poland.

The West capitalized on two East errors to cut the gap to 5-2 in the bottom of the second. Mr. Baseball finalist Josh Jillson of Oak Hill of Sabattus ignited the rally with a leadoff triple to center, but Maguire showed off his strong arm at third base in the middle of a 1-5-3 double play that minimized the West’s comeback bid.

Neill beat out an infield single to shortstop in the East fourth, moved to second on a passed ball and then scored as Lukas singled up the middle to make it 6-2.

Maguire held the West scoreless during his first two innings of relief, then yielded a run in the fifth when Peter Lewis of St. Dominic of Lewiston walked and scored on a long double to left by James Nutter of Kennebunk to cut the gap to 6-3.

The East immediately countered in the top of the sixth. Nick Swanson of Mount Desert Island drew a leadoff walk and went to third on an infield hit by Brewer’s Nicknair before scoring on an opposite-field single by Josh Clark of Brunswick.

Teddy Cooke of Bucksport beat out an infield nubber to load the bases, then high school teammate Maguire smacked his third hit of the game, an RBI single to center to make it 8-3.

Mr. Baseball finalist Joe Douglass of Poland closed the gap to 8-5 with one swing of the bat in the bottom of the seventh, pulling a two-run home run to right field off Ben Goodall of Oxford Hills of South Paris.

Justin Denbow’s two-out RBI single in the eighth drew the West within 8-6, prompting East coach Robin Weed of Winslow to turn to Lukas to finish the game on the mound.

“I got a little worried there, because I hit two batters in the ninth,” said Lukas. “I hadn’t pitched in a while.”

East 140 102 000 – 8 13 4

West 020 010 210 – 6 7 1

Siviski, Maguire (3), Goodall (6), Lukas (8) and Webb, Chandler (6); Ives, Pellitier (2), Nutter (5), Jillson (6) and Metayer, Tanguay (5)