STANDISH – The Bangor Comrades moved within one victory of the program’s first American Legion baseball state championship since 1979 Wednesday, riding the pitching of Jim Cox and Alex Gallant to two lopsided victories at Saint Joseph’s College.

Facing elimination to start a day in which play was delayed at the outset by 75 minutes to rain, the Zone 1 runners-up ousted Fayette-Staples of Saco 10-2 in the afternoon and later topped Bessey Motors of South Paris 10-0 in eight innings.

“We knew we had a big day ahead of us today,” said Cox, who pitched a three-hitter against Bessey Motors. “We’re a good team, we get along together, and we definitely had confidence that we could do the job.”

Bangor (25-6) faces 26-1 Monmouth in today’s 6 p.m. championship game at Mahaney Diamond. Monmouth, which defeated Bangor 15-5 in seven innings Tuesday night, advanced despite losing to Bessey Motors 7-6 in Wednesday’s second game because it was the last team in the tournament to suffer its first loss.

Bessey Motors, the Zone 3 runner-up, wound up 19-9.

Cox, who learned he would get the start against Bessey Motors just before game time, responded pitching a three-hitter with 11 strikeouts and one walk (104 pitches).

“I felt really comfortable on the mound and I had confidence in all of my pitches,” said Cox. “I was hitting my spots with my fastball and I was working my slider with it. My slider was really on today, it had good bite on it.”

Cox benefited from flawless defense behind him – as Bangor did not commit an error in 17 innings on the day.

“We just got back to our old ways,” said shortstop Scott Hackett, who paced Bangor’s 10-hit attack against Bessey Motors with three singles and two RBIs. “We were upset [after losing to Monmouth] but we had to put it our of minds and come back and play, and we did.”

Bangor used accidental offense to take a 1-0 lead in the third. Hackett hit a leadoff single and Tyson Barron walked, then both were sacrificed ahead a base by Tyler McDade.

Kyle Vanidestine then grounded out to shortstop, but Barron got caught between second and third bases and when Bessey Motors tried to get him in a rundown, Hackett took off for home and beat a high throw with a head-first slide.

Hackett and Barron added RBI singles an inning later as Bangor stretched its lead to 3-0.

Vanidestine’s speed helped Bangor push its lead to 4-0 in the fifth. The leadoff batter was hit by a pitch, stole both second and third, and scored on a groundout by Gordon Webb.

Bangor chased starter Chris Roy in the sixth as Tom Crews blasted a leadoff triple to the 380-foot mark in center field and scored the Comrades’ fifth run when Hackett hit the next pitch into right field for his third hit of the night.

Gallant added an RBI single in the seventh to drive home Walton, who was hit by a pitch and went to third on a pair of wild pitches by Bessey Motors reliever Evan Humphrey.

Crews had his second hit of the game – bringing his tournament average to .700 (14-for-20) – to open the Bangor eighth, was sacrificed to second by Hackett and scored as Barron reached on an error to make it 7-0. Barron subsequently scored on Vanidestine’s double and Vanidestine scored on a single by Walton to extend the lead to 9-0.

Earlier in the day, Gallant pitched a seven-hitter and Bangor pounded out 18 hits in its win over Fayette-Staples of Saco, ousting the final Zone 4 representative and ensuring a state champion from other than Zone 4 for the first time since Brewer won the title in 1997.

Gallant, whose only other pitching start since midway through the high school season was a nine-inning win against Trenton in the Zone 1 tourney, struck out seven, walked two and hit a batter while throwing an efficient 104 pitches.

“Alex has been great every time he’s gone in there, whether it’s been in relief or as a starter,” said Bangor coach Fred Lower. “He goes in there and throws strikes. He doesn’t get rattled at all. He’s been in so many big games and clutch situations that it doesn’t faze him.”

The righthander was backed by three double plays – two in the final two innings started by Hackett at shortstop – and the considerable range of Crews in center field.

“My fastball wasn’t there as much as it was then, but I was able to work some pitches in and work the batters,” said Gallant. “I knew that one hit wasn’t going to win the game for them, so I just had to go out there and throw strikes and let the players make plays.”

Gallant also had three singles and three RBIs.

Crews, Hackett and Barron, the Nos. 6-7-8 hitters, also had three hits apiece, with Crews hitting a home run and two singles and Hackett contributing a double and two singles.

Ian Edwards added a double and a single and every player in the lineup had at least one hit.

“We had a lot of problems pulling our head on pitches yesterday, but we kept our heads in there today and had a lot better discipline,” said Barron. “Every day’s a new day, a new life, and we came out swinging the bats and jumped on them early.”

(First Game)

Bangor (24-6) 111 010 123 – 10 18 0

Fayette-Staples (22-8) 100 001 000 – 2 7 4

Gallant and Webb; Morrison, Velton (4), Martin (5), Roberts (6) and Adams

(Second Game)

Monmouth (26-1) 010 100 040 – 6 11 2

Bessey Motors (19-8) 003 100 30x – 7 6 4

Jillson, Dwyer (7) and Rines; Ryerson and Estes

(Third Game)

Bangor (25-6) 001 211 14 – 10 10 0

Bessey Motors (19-9) 000 000 00 – 0 3 4

Cox and Webb; Roy, Humphrey (6), Hill (8) and Verrier