The Old Town-Orono Twins are peaking at the right time.

Coach Dave Paul’s ballclub, which was 2-5 at one point early in the Zone 1 American Legion baseball schedule, is on the verge of earning a trip to the state tournament.

Jamie Pete and Steve Coombs combined on a six-hitter and the Twins came up with a handful of clutch hits en route to a 6-3 victory over Bangor at Garland Street Field.

Old Town-Orono improved to 9-6 with its seventh win in eight games and moved to within one-half game of second-place Bangor, now 10-6, with five games to play. Coach John Stubbs’ Bangor squad retained second place, 1 1/2 games behind 11-4 Brewer.

Old Town-Orono and Bangor play a key nine-inning game Sunday at Orono High.

The Twins leaped a mental hurdle in beating Bangor, according to catcher Chris LeClair.

“We’re real confident right now,” said LeClair, who had two of the Twins’ nine hits. “Bangor has always been, pyschologically, hard for us to beat. Even in high school, it has always been like that. Tonight, everyone felt confident coming in.”

Paul, who has been pleased with his pitching staff all along, believes the difference in Old Town-Orono’s surge has been in its approach to hitting.

“We’re starting to swing the bats some,” Paul said. “I think early on we were taking some fastballs right down the middle and swinging at breaking balls in the dirt. Now we’re aggressive, but we’re going after better pitches.”

The Twins jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first off loser Ryan Soucie. David Theriault led off with a single, stole second, took third on a groundout and scored on an error. Mitch Stone’s two-out single plated Coombs, who had stolen second.

Old Town-Orono made it 4-0 in the fourth when Coombs walked and stole second. LeClair singled sharply through the middle to score Coomsecond. LeClair singled sharply through the middle to score Coombs, then rode home on Pete’s long double to center.

Bangor cut the deficit to 4-2 in the bottom of the inning. Shawn Doll walked and scored when Soucie roped a double to left-center. However, Soucie was thrown out trying to take third after center fielder Theriault overthrew the cutoff man.

Robbie Estey singled back through the box and moved to second when Stone failed to handle a pickoff throw by Pete. Scott Young followed, bouncing a hard single to center. But, Pete pitched out of the jam.

Bangor threatened in the fifth. However, right fielder Aaron Knowles made a shoestring catch on Soucie with two on to end the threat.

The Twins made it 5-2 in the sixth on Aaron Humphrey’s infield hit, two wild pitches and an error. Bangor scored once against reliever Coombs in the sixth when McIntyre walked and score when Alexander singled and got caught in a lengthy rundown.

Old Town-Orono added a run in the seventh when Harry Feero singled, stole second and scored on Matt Eastman’s RBI single.

LeClair and Eastman had two hits each for the Twins. Scott Young singled twice for Bangor.

Old Town-Orono Bangor

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Theriault, cf 4 1 1 0 Lindsay, 2b 2 0 0 0

Eddy, 3b 3 0 0 0 Nicholas, 2b 0 0 0 0

Knowles, rf-lf 3 0 0 0 Reed, ss 4 0 0 0

K. Feero, lf 0 0 0 0 Doll, cf 2 1 0 0

Coombs, lf-p 2 2 0 0 Soucie, p-1b-p 3 0 1 1

Stone, 1b 3 0 1 1 Estey, rf 2 1 1 0

LeClair, c 4 1 2 1 S. Young, lf 3 0 2 1

Pete, p 3 0 1 1 McIntyre, c 2 1 0 0

H. Feero, rf 1 1 1 0 R. Young, 1b 2 0 0 0

Eastman, ss 3 0 2 1 Alexander, 1b 1 0 1 0

Humphrey, 2b 4 1 1 0 Spreng, 3b 2 0 1 0

Totals 30 6 9 4 Totals 23 3 6 2

Old Town-Orono 200 201 1 – 6

Bangor 000 201 0 – 3

E – Eastman, Stone; Reed, Nicholas

2B – Pete; Soucie

LOB -OT-Orono 9; Bangor 6

DP – McIntyre to Reed

SB – Theriault, Coombs 3, H. Feero

S – Nicholas

Pitching Summary

PITCHER IP H R BB SO

Pete (W) 5 5 2 4 3

Coombs (S) 2 1 1 2 5

Soucie (L) 5 1/3 7 5 2 6

Alexander 1 2/3 2 1 4 3

WP – Coombs; Alexander 3 PB – McIntyre TIME -2:30

Soucie pitched four full innings, then re-entered in the sixth