AUGUSTA – Nothing turns Nova Seafood’s opponents into shark bait faster than walks and errors.

Gayton Post 31 knew it couldn’t offer such assistance in its Maine State American Legion Baseball Tournament opener Saturday, but knowing what to do and doing it are two different things.

Nova tallied seven runs on just three hits in the third inning, held off a valiant comeback attempt by Gayton, then pulled away late to pick up a 12-6 victory at McGuire Field Saturday.

“That’s the game of baseball, walks and errors,” Nova coach Mike D’Andrea said. “At the high school level, if you walk guys and make errors and the other team makes the most of the opportunity, which we did, it’s tough to beat us.”

Gayton, the Zone 3 champion, is still alive in the double-elimination tournament but will need to win out starting at 3:30 p.m. Sunday against the winner of this morning’s loser’s bracket game between Fayette-Staples and Waldo County (weather permitting). Nova, which demolished Fayette-Staples earlier Saturday, 19-8, will face Hampden/Hermon Sunday.

Seven different Nova hitters collected two hits apiece to account for the team’s 14 hits and Jamie Ross snuffed out Gayton’s comeback attempt in the sixth to begin 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.

Mekae Hyde led Gayton (17-7) with two hits and three runs batted in, while Alex Wong added three hits. But Gayton dug itself too large of a hole in the third when starter Kyle Neagle had an uncharacteristic loss of command and walked three batters. A bobble by second baseman Erik Waite prolonged the inning as Nova (22-3), which draws from Class A champion Deering, sent 11 men to the plate.

“They have a very explosive offense,” Gayton manager Todd Cifelli said. “Kyle had a very gutty effort. Only one of those runs were earned because after one error, the floodgates opened.”

“I thought we played good defense today and took some things away from them, but you have to play a complete game in order to beat them,” he added.

Gayton showed it wasn’t going down quietly with four runs in the bottom of the third, sparked by an RBI single by Greg LaBonte and and Hyde’s two-run double.

Neagle settled down in the middle innings to give his team a chance to continue chipping away. He got a little help when Waite turned a nice 4-3 double play in the fourth and then in the sixth when Wong recovered after just missing a leaping catch in right and threw the hitter out at second base.

Gayton pulled to within 7-5 in the fifth on an RBI single by Hyde and had the tying runs at second and third with two out against Nova starter Jack Young when D’Andrea lifted Young with a 1-0 count on Jeff Keene. Ross entered the game and threw three straight strikes, the last looking, to fan Keene and end the threat.

“He’s been gaining confidence all summer,” D’Andrea said. “I tried to make sure I brought him in to the right spot.”

Nova broke the game open again with five runs in the ninth, three of them coming on RBI singles by Matt Watson and Cameron Sprague and an RBI double by Taylor Candage. Gayton scored an unearned run against Nick Colucci.

With flood warnings forecast for the Augusta area Saturday night into Sunday evening and the fields at the CARA complex already saturated, Sunday’s games may have to be postponed. Tournament organizers said they would make a decision whether to play or not early Sunday morning and post it at www.augustababeruth.com between 7 and 7:30 a.m.