AUBURN – New Auburn and Gilman Electric played Saturday’s Zone III doubleheader at Pettengill Park without their respective managers, who both had prior personal commitments.

New Auburn’s late-inning magic wasn’t missing, though, as it rallied in both ends of the twinbill to sweep, 8-6 and 2-1.

Adam Lutz’s RBI single and Eric Prue’s run-scoring double pulled New Auburn (9-5) out of a 6-5 deficit in the sixth inning of the first game. Lutz then engaged Gilman’s Jake Pelletier in a scintillating pitcher’s duel, breaking up Pelletier’s no-hit bid in the sixth before scoring the game-tying run, then shutting down Gilman through extra innings in an efficient 89-pitch, eight-inning gem.

“We started off really slow, and we had to pick ourselves up as quickly as possible before those last innings came about,” said the speedy Lutz, who had three hits and scored four runs from New Auburn’s leadoff spot. “We had to pull something big and we did, twice.”

“These kids had a rough outing (Thursday) where we didn’t really show up against Gayton in our last game (a 12-2 loss),” said New Auburn assistant coach Chris Poirier, who was subbing for manager Brian Flynn, who was attending a wedding. “They came in shorthanded, but they played with a lot of heart today.”

Mixing a knee-buckling curve with a pinpoint fastball, Pelletier was dominant his first time through New Auburn’s lineup, fanning seven of the first nine and retiring the first 13 he faced overall.

Gilman (6-8) got on the board first on Trey Ouellette’s RBI single in the fourth. New Auburn finally got its first baserunner when Shane Ciriello fought a pitch off his bat handle with an inside-out swing and hit a dribbler to third. Third baseman Ouellette had to rush his throw which went into the dirt past first base for an error that sent Ciriello to second. Ciriello eventually stole third, but Pelletier (7 1/3 innings, four hits, one earned run, 12 Ks, one intentional walk) got the next two batters looking to preserve Gilman’s 1-0 lead.

Lutz (eight innings, four hits, three strikeouts, three walks, hit batter) battled out of a two-on, one out threat in the fifth, then finished the game strong, retiring the final 11 Gilman batters.

“Lutzy did an amazing job today as far as keeping them off-balance, knowing when to come with his fastball and when to come with the curve,” Poirier said. “He also did very well with keeping his pitch count down.”

But Lutz wouldn’t have picked up the win if he hadn’t gone the other way on a Pelletier curve for a two-out triple in the sixth.

“His curve ball was just nasty,” Lutz said. “Obviously, I had to adjust.”

Josh Mains followed by hitting a grounder to third that took a short hop through Ouellette’s wickets and sent Lutz home with the tying run.

“It was one of those balls where you don’t know whether to charge it or to stay back on it,” said Gilman assistant coach Brent Cary, son of manager Walter Cary, who was away on a business trip. “He stayed back on it and it short-hopped him.”

Adam Lutz ignited the winning rally by leading off the eighth with an infield single. He stole second and third, then scored on Mains’ one-out single up the middle.

Game 1 was a stark contrast to the second game in terms of pitching efficiency. Starters Adam Redmun for New Auburn and Nick Douglass for Gilman combined to walk more hitters in the first inning alone (seven) as Lutz and Pelletier walked in the entire second game. Gilman got a run out of the three free passes Redmun issued in the first on Douglass’ RBI single. New Auburn got two runs on Douglass’ four first inning walks because the last two came with the bases loaded.

Douglass eventually started hitting his spots, but Redmun (11 walks, seven hits, six earned runs) continued to struggle with his command as Gilman opened a 6-2 lead. Mike Muise came on in relief in the fifth and stymied the visitors to enable New Auburn’s first comeback.

“He just didn’t have his control today. He walked a lot, and that got us into some trouble,” Poirier said. “Michael was able to come in and give us some good strikes.”

Gilman could have done more damage against Redmun but left 14 runners stranded on base, including the bases loaded three times.

“We just couldn’t quite pull them together. We had the opportunities,” Cary said.

New Auburn came back with three in the fifth off Douglass (seven walks, two hits, five earned runs. Redmun sparked the winning rally against reliever Will Griffiths with a leadoff double in the sixth, then scored the tying run on Adam Lutz’s one-out single. Prue drove Lutz in with two out on a double past the diving left-fielder. Muise added an RBI single to drive in Prue with an insurance run.