By Randy Whitehouse,Staff Writer

AUBURN – So much for a Class A championship hangover.

Boasting six starters from the recently crowned state champion Oxford Hills, Bessey Motors scored four runs in the first and took advantage of six errors by New Auburn Post 153 to win its American Legion opener, 8-6, Thursday night.

Helping a still recovering Bessey squad were a couple of post-grads or non-Vikings, namely Chris Henderson (home run, three RBIs) and Fryeburg Academy standout Andrew Stacy, who threw four solid innings, struggled in the fifth, then buckled down when he needed to to thwart a New Auburn rally in the sixth.

“I told the guys that played (in Tuesday’s championship game) to ride the high, and the post-grads that they had to play hard because guys are going to be coming after us now,” said Bessey assistant Joe Oufiero. “They did a good job in the first inning of getting ahead.”

Three of the four first inning runs were unearned off New Auburn starter Brady Blackman, himself making his first appearance on the mound since pitching St. Dom’s to the Class C state title last Saturday. He gave up seven of the eight runs, but just three of them were earned.

“Brady did not have that bad a first inning, even though four runs won’t show it,” said New Auburn coach Jeff Benson, whose team dropped to 1-2 on the young season. “He hit spots. They hit the ball where they’re supposed to hit it. That’s baseball.”

New Auburn trailed 7-2 heading into the fifth inning, getting its runs on a hit batter with the bases loaded and a solo home run by Blackman in the third. A two-run single by Chris Merrill, an RBI single by Kyle Giguere and an error highlighted the fifth inning that pulled them within 7-6.

New Auburn put the tying run at second and the lead run at first with one out in the sixth, but Stacy, a lefty who fanned eight in six innings, got a fly out to right and a pop out to first to preserve the lead.

“Andrew did a great job. He gave up a run here and a run here, but he stopped the big inning,” Oufiero said

Bessey added an insurance run in the seventh without the benefit of a hit but with the assistance of two more New Auburn miscues.

“We’re not going to beat anybody making six errors,” said Benson. “I like the way we battled back. We came back from five runs down to cut it to one, but the run in the seventh was big because it put a little more pressure on us.”

Joe Baker pitched a 1-2-3 seventh to earn the save.

Henderson, a 2004 Oxford Hills graduate, delivered the big blows early for Bessey, stroking a two-run double in the first, then turning on an inside fastball from Blackman in the third for a solo homer to right-center.

“He’s a strong, strong kid,” Oufiero said. “He takes swings at the Gouin (Complex) and he’s a good fastball hitter. It’s good to have him back.”

Russell Estes drove in Baker to make it 6-2 in the fourth, and Bessey widened the margin to 7-2 with a double steal in the fifth.