By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

TOPSHAM – The way the first inning was going, it was either going to be a rather brief appearance for Jordan Bichrest or a very long game for the Smith-Tobey pitcher.

As New Auburn wrapped out four runs on three hits, Bichrest struggled to get batters out. After that first inning, however, he held hitters in check to set the stage for his team’s comeback.

“It was scary,” said Bichrest. “I know our team is great, and we can come back from anything, but it was scary because they were hitting everything I had. Luckily, my team made some key plays and had some big hits, and we started chipping away.”

New Auburn (17-7) could not build on its lead and Smith-Tobey erased it in a hurry with a big fourth inning that led to a 16-7 victory over New Auburn in the Zone III American Legion Championship game. The win put Smith-Tobey (21-1) in the 1 p.m. game Saturday in the state tournament at Hadlock Field. New Auburn plays at 4 p.m.

“They hit the ball when they had to, and they took advantage of our mistakes,” said New Auburn coach Jeff Benson.

Bichrest only allowed three more runs the rest of the way and pitched through the eighth inning. He scattered nine hits after the first.

“I just felt more comfortable with my curve,” said Bichrest. “I started locating a little better. I threw the change-up every once in a while. I started throwing them off a little so they weren’t sitting on my fastball.”

Bichrest added four hits and three RBIs. Steve May also drove in three runs with a pair of hits. Jamie Reilly had two hits and four RBIs.

New Auburn pitcher Justin Ciszewski and Brady Blackman each drove in two runs

“Knowing it’s a nine inning game really helped out,” said Smith-Tobey coach Bob Neron. “Knowing we didn’t have to get too excited and knowing that we had plenty of game left, we just had to pick away at it and take it one inning at a time.”

New Auburn’s lead came on a Ciszewski single and a two-run triple from Blackman. The damage could have been more but a double play on a Tyler Dorris liner ended the inning. New Auburn also had the bases loaded in the fourth, but a double play nixed that threat.

“The key was hitting into a double play with the bases load,” said Benson. “That kind of took some steam out of it. That kind of hurt us a little bit.”

In the bottom of the inning, Smith-Tobey erased the deficit with five runs. Nick Cloutier scored on an error. Reilly drove in a run with an infield hit. Ryan Billings came across on a balk and singles by Bichrest and May put Smith-Tobey ahead 6-4.

“We might have been out of the inning,” said Benson. “They had one hard hit ball. They had a couple of chinkers. We had an error. Justin had some tough luck.”

A Dorris RBI single in the fifth made it 6-5, but that was as close as New Auburn would get. A Bichrest triple in the bottom of the fifth made it 7-5. Marshall Chick scored on a double steal in the sixth for an 8-5 lead. Smith-Tobey padded the lead with three runs in the seventh and five more in the eighth.