AUGUSTA – The messages was loud and clear: Nova Seafood is serious about a three-peat.

The Portland post and Zone Four champion plated five runs in the fifth inning and pounded out a dozen hits in posting a 9-1 first-round win over Monmouth in the 2003 State American Legion Baseball Tournament at McGuire Field Sunday.

The entire tournament was pushed back a day due to rain.

While Nova (25-1) finally got to Monmouth (20-7) starter Ian McCarthy in that fifth inning, Nova’s Ryan Reid breezed through the Post 204 lineup, fanning 12 in his seven inning stint.

You might think Nova would be the last team to open a tournament with, but according to Monmouth Manager Chad Drouin, he got exactly what he wanted.

“It was kind of what I was looking forward to all year to be honest with you,” said Drouin. “I told the guys at the beginning of the year that I would like to open against them and see what happens.”

It wasn’t until the middle of the game before anyone could find a way to gain the upperhand.

For Nova it was Reid. The Deering senior recorded eight outs in a row via strikeouts and piled up 10 after four innings.

For Monmouth, early on anyway, it was solid defense.

Nova knocked on the door in the fourth when Reid led off with a double, and with one out, Jeff Skillin singled to right. Reid tried to score from second, but a perfect throw from Pat Duchette to catcher Mike Buckley beat Reid for the out.

It turned out only to delay the inevitable.

With one out in the fifth, Donny Drake singled to center and Ryan Flaherty walked. Scott Brown reached on an error, scoring Drake. Andrew Giobbi’s single to left plated Flaherty and Brown.

“It was a combination of them getting to Ian a little bit and not taking care of the baseball I guess,” said Drouin.

Monmouth made two errors in the frame and a total of six in the game.

“I thought was played played pretty good defense for the first five innings,” said Drouin. “We never did get anything going offensively though.”

“I didn’t hit my spots well, They are too good a team not to.” said McCarthy. “If we had gotten a couple of runs early that might have changed things,”

Nova added unneeded insurance runs later, the loudest coming on a solo home run to open the seventh by Reid.

“Our plan was to hit our pitch, not the pitcher’s pitch,” said Nova Manager Mike D’Andrea. “See what happens when you put the ball in play? You pressure on the other team to make outs and make plays.”

The rain changed things around a little. If the game had been played Saturday as originally scheduled, Reid would not have been the starter. The pitcher returned from a scouting combine Saturday evening.

“That was important,” said D’Andrea. “They would have faced Powers instead , and even though we have just as much confidence in him as we do Reid, when you don’t start your No. 1 in the first game, you run the risk of them not getting two starts.”

“This is the best team I’ve coached,” continued D’Andrea. “We can make substitutions in the later innings and be just as strong. In the past we would have nine guys, but when we went to the bench we were a little shallow.”

Monmouth avoided the shutout in the ninth.

Ben Muniz opened the inning by reaching on an error. Dean Stowell, running for Muniz, scored on a single by Mark Wade. Monmouth loaded the bases but could not score any more runs.

Nova advances to play Bessey Motors at Morton Field at 3 p.m. Monmouth moves to the losers’ bracket and will play Calais at 11 a.m. at Morton.

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