LEWISTON – For all of their struggles at the plate this season, Gayton Post 31 hitters haven’t been pressing to get their offense going.

Maybe that’s because they know they can count on pitching performances like the one they got from Dustin Longchamps on Friday.

Longchamps tossed a three-hitter and Gayton’s offense gave him more than enough support, with some help from two key Mechanic Falls errors, for a 5-0 win in the Zone III playoffs.

Third-seeded Gayton (13-9) will face No. 2 Bessey Motors in the semifinals today at 11 a.m.

Gayton got all the runs it needed in the first without benefit of a hit off Mechanic Falls starter Joe Douglas. Ryan Turgeon walked with one out, moved to second on a balk and to third on a wild pitch. Tyler Turgeon then walked and drew a bad throw to second on a steal attempt, allowing his brother to score and him to move to third. Jack Lavoie plated him with a sacrifice fly to right.

“We haven’t hit the ball all year, and early on we had a lot of K’s, so we talked about getting a good pitch to hit, so the kids have been pretty patient,” said Gayton coach Don King. “The baseball gods don’t deliver a lot of hits our way, so we’ll take the ones we get and be happy that we’re up 2-0 when we still didn’t have a hit.”

Douglas’ control problems continued in the inning with two more walks, forcing Mechanic Falls coach Walter Cary to turn to Alex Smith, who had no-hit Gayton earlier this year. Smith walked the first batter he faced but got out of the bases loaded jam with a strikeout.

“Joe pitched so well last weekend that I thought we could get a couple of innings out of him and make sure Alex could finish the game, but he didn’t have anything and it got worse,” Cary said.

It got worse for Mechanic Falls (10-12) in the third when a errant throw from short to second scored John Emerson (two hits) and a throw off the runner’s foot on another steal attempt scored David Kell to make it 4-0.

Longchamps, meanwhile, got stronger as the game went along (five Ks, three walks). Mechanic Falls put runners on in each of the first four innings, and had two runners aboard in three of those innings, but couldn’t get a key hit. The defense also helped on a nifty double play in the first and a nice backhand play in the hole at shortstop by Tyler Turgeon in the sixth.

“Longchamps has been solid all year on the hill,” King said. “The team came to play some D’ today, too. Tyler made a great play in the hole.”

Emerson drove in the game’s final run with an RBI single in the fourth. Longchamps then set down the last 10 hitters he faced, finishing in a flourish with back-to-back strikeouts in the seventh.