AUGUSTA – Few leads have been safe in the late innings of this year’s American Legion Baseball state tournament, so having nearly 24 hours to think about protecting a lead, even a seven-run lead in the eighth inning, didn’t make for a peaceful evening for Gayton Post 31 coach Todd Cifelli.

“To start up today against a team that is very well coached and very well skilled, and the way that this tournament has gone this week, we didn’t know what was going to happen,” Cifelli said.

Gayton reliever Kyle Neagle left little doubt, tossing two innings of scoreless relief to finish what Joe Sullivan had started the day before and close out a 10-3 victory that eliminated Libby-Mitchell of Scarborough on Tuesday.

“I was very, very pleased with the attitudes of the veterans on our team, talking about how there was unfinished business,” Cifelli said. “We ended up in the final four in the state and with a little more work to do.”

Gayton (19-7) will face Gardiner at 3:30 p.m. at McGuire Field on Wednesday, with the loser going home. Libby-Mitchell finishes the season 14-10.

Jeff Keene (three hits) and Mekae Hyde (two-run double) paced Gayton’s offense, along with Greg LaBonte, Alex Wong and Erik Waite (two hits each). Chris Bernard and Lincoln Sanborn had two hits apiece to lead Libby-Mitchell.

Thunderstorms forced the game’s suspension Monday just after Gayton had blown it open with a four-run seventh inning. Sullivan gave up a run in each of the first three innings before settling down for seven solid frames, yielding seven hits and two walks while fanning two.

“Joe was in command and competed,” Cifelli said. “He kept the ball down, and his curve ball was there. He did a nice job against a lineup that did some damage to Gardiner and Bessey (Motors).”

Gayton did damage with a run in the first and three more in the third to take the lead for good on Eddie West’s RBI single and Hyde’s two-run double. They chased Libby-Mitchell starter Brian Moskevich with a two-out, two-run rally in the sixth.

All that was left Tuesday was to not give Libby-Mitchell, which had pulled off a late comeback against Bessey on Saturday, any reason for hope.

“The way they were going to get back into it was with us allowing walks and errors,” Cifelli said.

Neagle allowed a hit in the eighth and a two-out walk in the ninth, but otherwise treated the last two innings like extended infield practice with four pop-ups and two strikeouts.

“We knew Neagle would throw strikes,” Hyde said, “so we threw him, and we just wanted to get out of here quick.”