AUGUSTA – A quality pitching performance by Joe Baker was combined with some timely hitting as Bessey Motors rode an early lead to a 7-4 win against Monmouth at Morton Field Wednesday morning.

Bessey Motors (19-6), the Zone III champions, supplied the pressure by scoring seven unanswered runs, with three of the first five hits doubles. Andrew Stacy (3-for-5, two doubles, RBI) And Matt McDonnell (2-for-2, two runs, RBI) led the offense for the South Paris-based club, which will play today at 4 p.m.

The deficit forced Zone II runner-up Monmouth, which will play today at noon, behind the eight ball.

“Those three runs were big,” Bessey Motors coach Shane Slicer said. “It was important for us to get up on them early on. I felt that we’d need to score runs because Monmouth is a good hitting club. It really got us going and gave us confidence, then Joe got on a roll.”

In the second inning, Bessey Motors loaded the bases as Baker led off with a walk, Corey Tielinen doubled and McDonnell was hit by a pitch. The runs scored on a Russell Estes ground out, Brent Grenier’s single and Kyle Kenniston’s sacrifice fly.

Baker had experienced some control problems early on, but settled in to a groove. The right-hander allowed six hits, struck out five and stranded eight base runners. He threw over 110 pitches and was lifted, after walking Chad Shrepper and Sean Holbrook leading off the eighth, in favor of Chris Jennings.

“I felt really comfortable on the mound,” Baker said. “I was relying on my fast ball early, then I threw a change-up to their left handed batters, before I got tired in the eighth.”

Monmouth had scored two runs in the seventh on a Mike Eaton triple and Pat Duchette’s single.

“(The team) knew the importance of this game,” Baker said. “We needed to win this first one. The heat wasn’t a big factor, but I’m glad we played earlier during the day. I wasn’t to concerned because we have a deep pitching staff.”

Monmouth scrambled with runs in the eighth and ninth. Brian Gardner had an RBI ground out and Mark Wade added an RBI-single.

The lead ballooned to 6-0 in the fourth, highlighted by Stacy’s run-scoring double. Monmouth starter Rickie Leavitt walked three and each runner scored. “We did the little things right,” Slicer said. “Our eight and nine batters (Estes and Grenier) came through, plus we had two sacrifice flies. We didn’t leave people on base and our defense made some big plays.”