AUGUSTA – Locke Mills had to sleep on a nine-run deficit Saturday night. And it wasn’t a good night’s sleep.

A thunderstorm forced suspension of Saturday’s game with Nova Seafood to Sunday, with Nova leading, 11-2 in the fourth inning. Facing the unlikely prospect of making a comeback against a team that hasn’t lost in a state Legion tournament game in a couple of years, Locke Mills got up early yesterday morning, made the 90 minute trip back to Augusta and kept battling.

Unfortunately, it couldn’t overcome wildness by its pitching staff and fell, 17-4, in a game shortened to seven innings by the 10-run mercy rule.

The loss eliminated Locke Mills, which finished the season 19-7 and the Zone 3 regular season championship. Nova (27-2) went on to win its fourth state title in a row with a 15-5 win over Andrews Post and moves on to the regionals in Middletown, Ct.

Locke Mills actually outhit Nova, 9-8, but its pitchers yielded 12 walks, three balks, two wild pitches and a hit batsmen to a team that certainly doesn’t need the help.

“I thought through the first three innings (Saturday), we were the harder hitting team,” said Locke Mills coach Chris Olson. “If you can say you’re the harder hitting team when you play Nova, that’s a nice thing to say. But we weren’t doing the things we thrived on all year long, throwing strikes, making them put the ball in play.”

Josh Stowell and Jeff Skillin hit homers and drove in three runs apiece for Nova. August Reiss went deep for Locke Mills, while Cory Wing had three hits and Dave Roberge and Tony Liberti added two hits apiece.

Nova never trailed, taking a 3-0 lead in the first inning on an error, two walks, a wild pitch and a two-run double by Ryan Reid.

Reiss made it interesting again in the second with a two-run homer to left on a 3-2 pitch from Nova starter Matt Cole.

Nova began to pull away in the third on Skillin’s three-run homer. Chris Burleson added a two-run double in the fourth and Stowell made it 11-2 with his two-run blast just before umpires halted the game due to lightning in the area.

After a 90 minute delay the game was suspended to Sunday morning. To its credit, Locke Mills came to play and struck first on Day 2, as Liberti stroked a two-run single to make it 11-4 in the sixth.

“We had a competitive group,” Olson said. “We had to play hard all year long to have the record we did. There were a lot of players that played the game the way it should be played.”

Nova put the game away with six in their half of the inning on five walks and three hits.