POLAND – It wasn’t supposed to be hittable, and most hitters wouldn’t have thought twice about a pitch two feet above the strike zone.

Louie Bernardini isn’t a typical batter.

Already a hero with a solo home run in the fourth, Bernardini roped a pitch that was supposed to be ball two of an intentional walk into left field in the top of the seventh to give Cole Farms a 3-2 win over Poland in Zone 3 American Legion baseball Tuesday.

The shot scored Sam Forbes from second base, and gave the young team from Gray-New Gloucester its first win of the season.

“That’s probably something I would have yelled at him for if it hadn’t worked,” Cole Farms coach Aaron Talon said. “He did that on his own. He’s a smart player and he knows the game well.”

After an intentional walk in the sixth inning with similar high pitches, Bernardini was hoping to get another chance.

“I saw they were going to walk me again,” Bernardini said. “I remembered that in the last inning they had come closer than normal to the strike zone, and I figured if they did it again I’d try it.”

On the second pitch he saw, he swung his bat over his head and hit a hard, top-spinning ball down the line to left field, plating Sam Forbes from second. Forbes had reached on a fielder’s choice and had stolen second.

“That’s how we are going to win games this year,” Talon said. “We are going to have to bunt the ball, move runners along and play solid small-ball.”

Poland went up 1-0 early when Dave Lutz crossed the plate on a throwing error by Forbes from behind the plate.

Bernardini responded in the next inning with a line-drive home run to left-center off of Poland starter Brent Cory.

“I got a fastball and just went with it,” Bernardini said.

Cole Farms took the lead in the top of the fifth when Cory balked home a run from third base, and Poland tied the game in the sixth when Bernardini, in to relieve starting pitcher Devin Gill, threw a two-seam fastball in the dirt.

Mike Carpenter and Nick Colby had the only two hits on the day for Poland, while Chris Place, Nate Bartlett and Jared Whales all pitched in with a hit for Cole Farms.