AUGUSTA — Bessey Motors wondered Wednesday afternoon if the American Legion baseball state tournament could be like one of those golf scrambles where $20 may buy you an indulgence ahead of time.

Or a figure skating exhibition with rules in place to keep that finicky Eastern European judge in check. Or one of those rare college courses with an easygoing professor. You know: Drop the lowest grade.

“Let’s play eight innings in this tournament, and can I get a mulligan for the second?” Bessey coach Joe Oufiero joked.

Bessey’s three errors, two dropped third strikes, two walks and two hit batsmen led to five runs in the bottom of the second inning for Morrill Post 35 of South Portland. The Oxford Hills-area team never fully recovered and fell 8-4 at Morton Field.

Giving away outs was a troubling trend at the plate, as well. Bessey (15-7) grounded into double plays in the sixth and seventh innings.

“We made some big plays defensively when we needed to,” Morrill manager Mike Owens said. “They didn’t seem to get that two-out hit, and we did a couple of those big two-out hits.”

Morrill (14-6) advanced to a winners’ bracket game against Bangor. Bessey fell into an elimination bout with Ramsdell-Rogers Post of York/Wells at 11 a.m. today.

Oufiero was substituting for Bessey manager Shane Slicer, who served a one-game suspension after he was ejected from the Zone 3 championship contest Saturday.

Andrew Richards of Morrill and Erik Henderson of Bessey each went the distance on the mound.

In part because of Henderson’s one wild inning, Richards was able to weather 13 hits. He struck out six and walked one.

“I didn’t have my good stuff today. I just had to battle,” Richards said. “I’m used to seeing the same guys over and over again in high school and Legion. Then I come over here and it’s different guys and I don’t really know what their approach is.”

Paul Reny’s two-run single was Morrill’s lone hit against Henderson in the second, furnishing a 5-0 lead.

Bessey ran into an out on the basepaths in the third inning, limiting a potential big rally to two runs. Matt Beauchesne and Dylan Cox singled and Brandon Campbell cranked a double.

Richards struck out D.J. Croy to keep the threat to a dull roar.

Morrill got both runs back in the fourth, again with the aid of an error and a wild pitch. Singles by Adam Helmke and Reny, plus Ryan Curit’s sacrifice fly, made the miscues sting.

Five consecutive Bessey innings — the third through seventh — opened with a single. Bessey out-hit Morrill 13-8 overall.

Beauchesne was cut down on the bases in the fifth. Kyle Farrar scored Bessey’s lone run on an error.

Leadoff hits by Andrew Rascoe in the sixth and Cox in the seventh went for naught thanks to the tidiness of Reny, Jack Lano and Zach Horton on tailor-made double play balls.

Cox, Farrar and Cody Hadley loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh, only to have Bessey come up empty.

“I’ve seen Erik a lot of years and I knew he was starting to get in a groove, and I thought if we could get one or two (runs), we might have a shot,” Oufiero said. “But what do you do? You can’t squeeze and you can’t hit-and-run with your four and five hitters up there. (Richards) pitched out of jams. He’s a hell of a competitor.”

Brendan Horton and Helmke both doubled to made it 8-3 in the eighth.

Bessey answered with a two-out walk in the ninth by Farrar and a Hadley triple. Richards coaxed Campbell into a pop-up to Lano at second base to end it.

“We got in a lot of two-strike counts and couldn’t seem to put them away,” Owens said. “(Richards) wasn’t as sharp as he is normally, but he saved us our arms.”

Henderson’s route-going effort accomplished the same for Bessey, and that could have its rewards as the double-elimination tournament progresses. He struck out nine and walked four.

Hadley bolstered Bessey with three hits. Cox, Farrar, Campbell, Rascoe and Beauchesne each tallied two.

NOTES: During the game, Dirigo High School and Swasey-Torrey Post pitcher/first baseman Arik Fenstermacher was awarded the Legion’s annual $1,000 scholarship. Fenstermacher is the fifth Zone 3 player in 11 years to receive the honor.

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