AUBURN – School’s out for summer, but the Bessey Motors American Legion baseball team didn’t shy away from a little mathematics Thursday evening.

Bessey counted its two losses, pondered the zero in New Auburn’s right-hand column and knew it needed a win to avoid needing a neck brace from the strain of looking up at Post 153 in the Zone 3 standings.

“We were thinking about that big time. That’s why we were so pumped,” said center fielder Tyler Bryant, who went 4-for-5 with three RBIs to push Bessey to an 11-2 victory at Pettengill Park.

After five terrific innings, Bessey (4-2) broke open a tie game with five runs in the sixth inning and five more in the seventh. All but two were unearned.

Garrett Olson and Andrew Stacy each added two hits for Bessey, a team comprised of Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School and Fryeburg Academy athletes.

“Their being undefeated I think had something to say for the way we performed,” said Bessey coach Shane Slicer.

“We hit the ball. We’re a good hitting team, but we haven’t had that kind of hitting throughout the lineup until tonight.”

Bessey banged out 11 hits against four New Auburn pitchers, although Joey Dumont held the victors to only four until the sixth.

Cody Wall led that inning with a walk, moved to second on a balk and scored on Stacy’s single to right.

Jeff Austin followed with a walk. Olson singled home Stacy. Austin and Olson both scored when Brent Grenier’s hot grounder to shortstop led to a New Auburn throwing error, opening the floodgates and ending Dumont’s night.

NAL (5-1) committed five errors.

“Joey pitched well. The things that led to him coming out of the game weren’t really his fault,” said New Auburn coach Brian Flynn.

Dumont and counterpart Joe Baker both benefited from superb early defense, as the game remained scoreless until the fourth despite runners advancing into scoring position in every preceding half-inning.

Chris Henderson walked and later scored on a throwing error to give Bessey the lead in the fourth. Dumont delivered a leadoff home run for NAL in the home half.

Baker (2-0 with one save) scattered six hits and struck out four in six innings. Both teams turned three double plays through the first five frames, and New Auburn also cut down a runner in a rundown between home and third base.

“Then we started to put some hits together,” said Bryant, “and we didn’t stop.”

Dumont was New Auburn’s lone repeat hitter.

Jay Verrill, an Auburn native preparing for his third year at Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Conn., in the fall, belted a double.

“I never expected us to be 5-0,” said Flynn. “We have nine kids on the team who never played Legion ball before.”

koakes@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link