The victory sends Auburn to the regionals in New Jersey.
By Peter Mullen
Staff Writer

BIDDEFORD – It was obvious early on that Auburn Suburban didn’t want to play two.

The team erupted for six hits and took advantage of a pair of Coastal errors to plate six runs in the third inning as Auburn Suburban coasted to an 8-2 win over the Blue Hill/Deer Isle team in the finals of the state Little League Senior (15-16 year olds) tournament at St. Louis field Tuesday.

Auburn entered the game as the only unbeaten team remaining in the double elimination event. A Coastal win would have set up one final game to determine the champion. The win sends Auburn to the regionals in New Jersey in early August.

While Auburn blew it open in the third, it didn’t look like a sure thing before that.

Coastal’s Dan Hilts kept Auburn off balance and for the most part off base in the first two innings. He fanned four of the first six outs and allowed but one baserunner.

Hilts, however, was on the hill again after pitching 10 innings Saturday night (over 150 pitches) and it caught up with him in the third.

His opposite number, Chris Merrell, led off the third with a bloop single to center and all Robie Leighton tried to do was lay down a sacrifice bunt. He ended up reaching on a throwing error on the play and Merrell came all the way around to give the local team a 1-0 lead.

After Matt Nadeau reached on an infield hit and Leighton scored on a wild pitch, the bats really zeroed in on Hilts.

Kevin Pontbriand, David Lutz, and Justin Ciszewski each doubled adding to the score. Ciszewski’s two-bagger meant the end of the day for Hilts. Blake Wessel came on it relief ,and while he didn’t slam the door on Auburn, he did manage to make it not quite so open.

“We managed to time him (Hilts),” said Nadeau. “He had us early but we came through when we needed it.”

Meanwhile Merrell did what he had to do on the mound for Auburn.

“It was a pretty good outing,” said Merrell. “My guys helped me out with a lot of runs, but they also helped me a lot in the field. We definitely didn’t want to play two today.”

Merrell was helped by some fine defense plays. Coastal’s Josh Eaton hit a sinking liner to left in the second innning and Auburn’s Brandon Elie came from nowhere to make the diving catch. Coastal’s runner on second was so sure the ball was going to fall in that he was running on the play and was easily doubled off second.

Later, Kyle Giguere snared a line drive to deep left to save at least one run.

“The kids just didn’t come to play today,” said Coastal manager Tim Robbins. “From yesterday to today we just didn’t hit the ball. They were nervous. We thought we’ed come in here and beat these guys easy. Maybe that’s what it was.”

Auburn slid across single runs in the fourth and sixth as insurance.

In the fourth, Brian Erickson walked, stole second, and scored on a single by Ciszewski. In the sixth, Nadeau doubled and scored on an error.

Merrell took a shutout into the seventh but Coastal managed to plate both their runs in the driving rain that started in the sixth. Elie came on to finish it off for Auburn.

“My arm wasn’t tired or anything. The rain was getting to the ball and it was getting kind of slippery,” said Merrell.

“No, we did not want to play two,” said Auburn Suburban manager John Tarr. “I think they might have been a little tired having to play last night. We’ve been waiting for this. It’s what we expect out of these kids.”

Nadeau, Pontbriand, Ciszewski, and Merrell each had two hits for Auburn Suburban.

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