BANGOR – After having split all their previous American Legion baseball doubleheaders this season, the Bangor Comrades were hoping for a sweep Saturday evening.

After stranding four runners in scoring position and missing a golden opportunity to score the tying run in the last at-bat of Motor City’s 3-2 victory over Bangor, a split was looking better and better.

The Comrades salvaged a split emphatically with eight runs in the first inning of the second game en route to a 13-3 victory.

“We’ve split all our doubleheaders this season and it’s going to be a dogfight,” said Comrades manager Fred Lower. “We’re 10-5 and usually 10 wins is enough to get you in the tournament, but the way some of the lower-ranked teams are winning games, we might need more than that, so winning this second game was big.”

Motor City of Bangor moved to 7-7 and within three games of the top four playoff spots while Bangor maintained its second- place standing.

In the first game, Motor City’s Aaron Healey (2-1) outdueled Bangor’s Kyle Savage, allowing six hits in a complete-game effort.

“I came out and threw my curve a lot in warmups because I knew I’d have to do more than just throw fastballs to them,” said Healey. “It wasn’t so much the pitches as it was their location, keeping them to the corners of the plate. They have good hitters and I have to make sure to keep it low and mix it up.”

Healey did just that as he finished with four strikeouts and two walks.

Healey’s batterymate, Nick Smith, helped his pitcher out with the key hit of the game, a two-run single with one out in the third inning that provided the winning margin.

“I think it was a fastball. It was kind of a lucky guess. It was outside and I went with it,” Smith said.

Leadoff hitter Casey Hull and John Gagnon each had two singles for Motor City. Gagnon had evened the score at 1-1 with a two-out RBI single to center in the second.

Bangor took a 1-0 lead in the first on Ian Edwards’ two-out RBI single to left-center. The other run came in the fifth courtesy of Gordon Webb’s RBI single, again with two outs.

Bangor had a great chance to tie it up in the seventh when Jordan Clarke reached on a one-out single on a slow roller down the third-base line. Pinch runner Jimmy Burns then stole second and went to third as the throw to second sailed high and wide to the right side, but Healey retired the next two batters on a short flyout to center and a strikeout.

In the second game, the Comrades’ offense made things easy for Edwards on the mound and he made things difficult for Motor City batters.

The Comrades sent 12 batters to the plate in the first and scored eight runs on four hits, three walks and a hit batter after Motor City had taken a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on a 380-foot home run to left by Andrew Casey.

“That made it real easy on me,” Edwards said. “I felt more relaxed and just threw strikes, but I was still aggressive and tried to go right after hitters.”

Edwards (3-0) allowed just two hits and no walks in three innings of work while notching five strikeouts.

“My fastball-cutter combination worked well for me today. I used that a lot,” he said.

The Comrades scored four more times in the second on six hits, the biggest of which was Chad Kelley’s two-run home run to left-center.

Ryan LaRochelle helped lead Bangor’s offense with a double, two singles and two RBIs. Kelley also had a two-run double in the first and Zane Gray had a triple, a single and three RBIs.

“I think after the first game, we were all a little frustrated so we tried to jump on them early. We hit the ball up and down the lineup,” said LaRochelle. “You could see everyone get up after the way we started off. It kind of gets contagious. Everything just kind of spilled over from there.”

The twinbill renewed a recent rivalry between the two Legion squads as the Comrades players come from Bangor High while Motor City’s come from John Bapst of Bangor and Bangor Christian.

“We’ve been competing against these guys for awhile now from Little League right on through, so it’s kind of natural rivalry for us,” Smith said.

aneff@bangordailynews.net

990-8205

MOTOR CITY 3, COMRADES 2

(Saturday’s First Game)

Motor City Bangor

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Hull, ss 4 1 2 0 Vanidestine, cf 3 0 0

Casey, 2b 4 0 1 0 Walton, 3b 4 1 0

N. Smith, c 4 0 1 2 Webb, rf 3 0 1

Merritt, 1b 4 0 1 0 Edwards, 1b 2 0 1

C. Smith, cf 4 1 0 0 Lyshon, dh 3 0 0

Healey, p 3 0 0 0 Kelley, ss 3 0 0

Gagnon, rf 3 0 2 1 LaRochelle, lf 2 0 0

Theriault, 3b 3 0 0 0 McInnis, 2b 3 0

Carr, lf 2 1 1 0 Morris, c 1 0 0

Susi, ph 1 1 1 0

Clarke, ph 1 0 1 0

Burns, pr 0 0 0 0

Totals 31 3 8 3 Totals 26 2 6 2

Motor City 012 000 0 – 3

Bangor 100 010 0 – 2

E-Casey, N. Smith; Walton, Kelley; LOB-Motor City 8; Bangor 5; SB-C. Smith, Carr, Hull, N. Smith; Burns

Motor City IP H R ER BB SO

Healey (W, 2-1) 7 6 2 2 2 4

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Savage (L, 2-2) 6 7 3 2 0 4

Reese 1 1 0 0 0 2

HBP-Vanidestine (by Healey); T-1:35; ATT-67

COMRADES 13, MOTOR CITY 3

(Saturday’s Second Game)

Motor City (7-7) Bangor (10-5)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Hull, ss 2 0 1 0 Vanidestine, cf 3 1 1

Debay, ss 1 0 0 0 Walton, 3b 2 1 2

Casey, 2b 2 1 1 1 Reese, 3b 0 0 0

Pooler, 2b 1 1 0 0 Webb, c 3 1 2 1

N. Smith, c 2 0 0 0 Morris, c 1 0 0

Theriault, c 2 0 0 0 Edwards, p-ss 2 1 0

Merritt, 1b 2 0 1 0 McInnis, ss 1 0 0

Christie, 1b-rf 0 1 0 0 Clarke, rf 2 0

C. Smith, cf 2 0 0 0 Moore, rf 1 0 0

Gagnon, lf 1 0 1 0 Kelley, ss 3 2 4

Healey, lf 2 0 0 0 Casey-Covell, p 0 0 0

Diamond, rf-cf 1 0 1 1 Taft, p 1 0 0

Gagnon, p 0 0 0 0 Lyshon, 1b 0 0 0

Potter, p 3 0 1 1 LaRochelle, lf 3 3 2

Johnson, rf-cf 1 0 0 0 Savage, ph 1 0

Dieuveuil, 1b 1 0 0 0 Susi, 2b 3 0

Carr, 3b 1 0 0 0 Gray, 1b-p 4 0 3

Leadbetter, 3b 2 0 0 0

Totals 26 3 6 3 Totals 30 13 14 13

Motor City 100 002 0 – 3

Bangor 840 100 x – 13

E-Hull, Merritt, Healey; LOB-Motor City 6, Bangor 5; 2B-Merritt; Kelley, LaRochelle; 3B-Clarke, Gray; HR-Casey (1); Kelley (3); DP-Bangor 1; SF-Walton; SB-LaRochelle, Moore

Motor City IP H R ER BB SO

Gagnon (L, 2-1) 0 4 8 7 3 0

Potter 6 10 5 3 0 1

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Edwards (W, 3-0) 3 2 1 1 0 5

Casey-Covell 1 1 0 0 0 0

Taft 2 3 2 2 3 0

Gray 1 0 0 0 1 1

HBP-Vanidestine (by Gagnon); WP-Potter; T-1:59; ATT-52