AUBURN – New Auburn Post 153 pitcher Brady Blackman knew he didn’t have his best stuff Saturday morning. After striking out the first batter he faced, Blackman allowed two hits and two walks, including one with the bases loaded, and spotted Gray Post 86 a 1-0 lead.
In the second inning, Gray plated two runs and took a 3-0 lead, with Blackman faring no better.
“I didn’t have it at all today,” said Blackman. “The last couple of games I’ve had trouble spotting my fastball.”
Thanks to some help from shortstop Justin Ciszewski and some timely hitting of his own, Blackman’s shortcomings didn’t determine the outcome of the game.
Ciszewski belted a two-run home run in the second inning and a Blackman three-run double keyed a five-run fifth as New Auburn outlasted Gray 10-7 in the teams’ Zone III American Legion baseball quarterfinal at Pettengill Park.
New Auburn advances to face Bessey Motors, which defeated Locke Mills 11-1 Saturday morning, in today’s semifinal.
“They played us very tough all season,” said New Auburn coach Jeff Benson. “They came out swinging, and we knew with (Tim) Deluca on the mound, it would be tough to score some runs right away.”
While it did take Post 153 time to get going, the hits and runs came swiftly through the middle part of the game.
Dan McLean scored on a walk in the first inning and Sam Forbes and Ryan Welch scampered home in the second to give Gray a 3-0 lead early on Blackman.
“He lives on the high side of that strike zone,” said Gray coach Aaron Talon. “We knew coming in that we’d have to be patient. If he had been getting those high strikes, we would have been in trouble, but once he had to start bringing the ball down, I felt we’d be able to hit him.”
Ciszewski’s blast on a fastball in the bottom of the third inning pulled Post 153 closer, but Post 86 reclaimed its three-run cushion in the top of the third when Welch and Chris Kelly crossed the plate.
“We weren’t all that worried, really,” said Ciszewski. “We’ve won enough ball games coming back from scores like 5-0, so it wasn’t that bad.”
Four of the first five New Auburn batters in the bottom of the fourth inning reached base, one came home on a bloop single by Brian Erickson and Blackman plated three more with a double to right-center to give Post 153 its first lead of the game.
“That hit, with two outs, that was really big,” said Benson.
Gray would not go away, and plated two more in the top of the fifth to knot the score at seven, but the first three batters in the bottom of the fifth crossed for Auburn to cap the scoring.
“The bottom part of the order really came through for us today, really set the table for the top,” said Benson.
As for Blackman, he seemed to settle down over the final two innings. Despite a high pitch count (Blackman tossed 131 pitches Saturday), his final 24 in the sixth and seventh innings were some of his best.
“When I got the 7-5 lead I thought I’d be fine,” said Blackman, “And then we went down again and then up. I had no doubt we’d win, though. I got better over the last two innings.”
New Auburn is already assured a berth in next weekend’s state tournament as the Zone III regular-season champion. The winner of the tournament, though, receives the zone’s No. 1 seed. The other semifinal matchup will see Gayton Post 31 of Lewiston square off against Mechanic Falls Post 150.
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