STANDISH – A slow start prevented Bangor from a strong finish at the state American Legion baseball tournament.

Zone 2 champion Monmouth erupted for seven runs in the bottom of the first inning, built an 8-0 lead and held on to edge the Comrades 8-6 in the championship game at Saint Joseph’s College on Thursday evening.

“We knew once they put seven runs on the board that it was going to be tough to come back from that,” said Bangor center fielder Tom Crews, who was named the tournament MVP after batting .625 (15 for 24) in the Comrades’ six games.

“But we knew we couldn’t let up and we had to fight as long as we could. We just came up a little short.”

Monmouth, the first non-Portland team to win the state title since 1997, advances to the Northeast Regional championships that begin Aug. 16 at Burlington, Vt.

Bangor, seeking its first state crown since 1979, ends the summer with a 25-7 record.

Mike Eaton got the pitching win, scattering 10 hits over 7 1/3 innings as Bangor chipped away after Monmouth built its big early lead. Travis Harwood relieved Eaton in the eighth after Bangor scored its final run and worked out of a jam to earn the save.

“We just kept battling,” said Eaton. “We knew they were going to hit, they’re obviously a tough team, but we hung in there and battled.”

Eaton also had a double and a single to pace Monmouth’s nine-hit attack. Ethan Guerrette, Justin Denbow and Sean Holbrook added two hits each.

Scott Hackett doubled and singled for Bangor, the Zone 1 runnerup. Kyle Vanidestine, Shane Walton and Alex Gallant each singled twice.

Monmouth took instant control against Bangor starter Ian Edwards, though Edwards was victimized by a pair of tough defensive plays early in the first inning.

Edwards walked Guerrette to open the Monmouth first. Holbrook then hit a grounder up the middle, but a miscommunication between Bangor’s middle infielders allowed the ball to go through for a single.

Hasenfus then deadened a bunt in front of the plate, and while catcher Gordon Webb picked up the ball, no one was covering first and the bases were loaded with no one out.

Eaton and Denbow followed with RBI singles, and when Edwards hit Wally Rines with a first-pitch fastball, the Zone 2 champs had a 3-0 lead. Josh Jillson and Tom Edgecomb hit consecutive sacrifice flies to make it 5-0, and Guerrette and Holbrook had RBI singles in their second at-bats of the inning to cap off the rally.

Eaton led off the second with a double off the right-field fence, marking the end of Edwards’ day on the mound. After Denbow greeted reliever Kyle Leeman with a single, Eaton scored on a fielder’s choice grounder by Rines.

But that was it for Monmouth’s offense, as Leeman yielded just one more hit while working the rest of the way to give Bangor a chance to rally.

“I just went in with the mentality that I had to do whatever I could to hold them,” said Leeman, who struck out four and walked two in seven innings. “My mind-set was that they weren’t going to score on me and then I had to go right back into the dugout and get everyone fired up, try to be a leader on the bench, to get them going and score some runs, and we almost did it.”

Bangor got on the board in the third. Walton led off by reaching on an infield hit toward first base, advanced to third on an infield error on a grounder by Alex Gallant and scored on a comebacker to the mound by Edwards.

The Comrades, who stranded three runners after loading the bases with one out in the second, loaded the bases with one out again in the fourth and this time scored three runs to close the gap to 8-4 and give themselves hope of a comeback.

Walton and Gallant each had RBI singles during the rally, while Webb had a sacrifice fly as the Comrades pulled within four runs.

Bangor drew within 8-5 in the top of the seventh, as Edwards lined a leadoff single to center and scored on Hackett’s one-out pop double to left-center.

The Comrades had a big chance in the eighth, scoring one run as Walton walked, advanced on an error and scored on a single to left by Gallant. A two-out walk to Crews loaded the bases and put the tying run in scoring position, but Monmouth reliever Travis Harwood got Hackett to pop out to shortstop to end the inning.

“What we asked the kids to do all season long was to battle every inning, and they did that,” said Bangor coach Fred Lower. “We got down 8-0 after two innings, and we got the kids together and said ‘it’s a long game, we’ve just got to chip away. We’re going to get our chances, we’ve just got to capitalize.’

“We capitalized on a few chances, just not enough.”

MONMOUTH 8, BANGOR 6

Bangor (25-7) Monmouth (27-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Vanidestine, rf 6 1 2 0 Guerrette, 2b 3 1

Walton, 3b 2 2 2 1 Holbrook, cf 4 1 1

Webb, c 4 0 0 1 Hasenfus, rf 4 1 0

Gallant, 1b 5 0 2 2 Eaton, p-1b 4 2 1

Edwards, p-2b 5 1 1 1 Denbow, lf 4 1

Crews, cf 4 0 1 0 Rines, c 2 1 2

Hackett, ss 4 1 2 1 Jillson, 1b 3 0 0

Barron, lf 4 1 0 0 Harwood, p 0 0 0

Kelley, 2b 1 0 0 0 Ricker, ss 3 0 1

Leeman, p 3 0 0 0 Edgecomb, 3b 3 1 0

Jo. Cox, ph 1 0 0 0

Totals 39 6 10 6 Totals 30 8 9 8

Bangor 001 300 110 – 6

Monmouth 710 000 00x – 8

E-Hackett; Edgecomb 2, Jillson, Guerrette, Ricker; LOB-Bangor 13; Monmouth 7; 2B-Hackett; Eaton; S-Walton; SF-Webb; Jillson, Ricker; SB-Walton 2

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Edwards (L) 1 7 8 8 1 2

Leeman 7 2 0 0 4 2

Monmouth IP H R ER BB SO

Eaton (W) 7 1/3 10 6 3 2 4

Harwood (S) 1 2/3 0 0 0 1 2

HBP-Barron (by Eaton), Walton (by Eaton); Rines (by Edwards), Hasenfus (by Leeman); WP-Edwards; T-2:30; ATT-300