LEWISTON —  Joe Sullivan wasn’t offended when Smith-Tobey elected to intentionally walk Luke Cote and put the veteran Pastime Club outfielder/pitcher on the hot seat in a tied game in the sixth inning.

“It’s in the moment someone’s got to be the hero,” Sullivan said. “It was my turn, so I had to step up.”

Sullivan knocked home the winning run with a seeing-eye single and sent top-seeded Pastime back to the Zone 3 championship with a 6-3 win over No. 5 Smith-Tobey in a game that ranged from brutal to bizarre.

Pastime (18-2), the defending zone and state champion, will host either Bethel/Locke Mills, Mechanic Falls or Windham for the zone title at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.

The quarterfinal between Mechanic Falls, which was suspended due to darkness on Monday, was rained out on Tuesday and will be completed Wednesday in Windham. Following the conclusion of that game, the winner will play Bethel/Locke Mills in the other semifinal. The winner of the semifinal clinches at least a spot in the state tournament play-in game. Pastime already has at least a play-in berth secured because it won the zone regular season title.

David Cusson started the winning rally with a one-out walk and pinch runner Alex Small was bunted over by Nate Berube. After Smith-Tobey pitcher Aaron Barrett issued the free pass to Cote (2 for 3, RBI, two runs), Sullivan grounded an 0-1 pitch past the diving shortstop to score Small.

“I was surprised that they intentionally walked (Cote),” Pastime coach Todd Cifelli said. “I was very excited for Joe, who’s been in the moment all year to deliver, and then to have (No. 3 hitter) Mekae Hyde behind him. It turned out to be a big spot for us.”

The left fielder overran Sullivan’s single, which allowed Cote and Sullivan to both move up a base and eventually score when Hyde’s ground ball bounded over the glove of the second baseman and into right field.

Sullivan picked up his second save in as many days with a hitless seventh in relief of starter Luke Cote (6 IP, 7 hits, 3 runs, 1 earned, 4 strikeouts, 5 walks).

Pastime staked Cote to a 3-0 with a run on a Hyde sacrifice fly in the first and two more in the second on a groundout by Berube and single by Cote.

Smith-Tobey (10-10) got on the board in the third on Joey Van Note’s sacrifice fly. Zach Groat tried to add another run with a single to left field that sent Torrey Charnock to the plate. Chris Madden’s strong throw was a few feet up the third-base line but arrived a beat before Charnock, who knocked Hyde flat on his back. Hand and ball in glove, the catcher held on for the third out.

“When I played Legion in eighth grade, I got run over by some pretty big kids welcoming me to the league,” he said. “It’s been awhile, but that’s how you play. I wasn’t too worried about it.”

Pastime coaches argued Charnock should have been thrown out of the game. American Legion rule 1F(Ruling 2) states “If the collision by the runner was flagrant, the runner shall be declared out and ejected from the contest.

“We thought that was easily malicious contact and an automatic ejection,” Cifelli said.

Charnock was not ejected and played a part in Smith-Tobey’s tying rally in the fifth. With Charnock at first and Nick Karkos at third and one out, Joey Van Note grounded to third. Matt Bowen threw Charnock out at second, but Cusson’s relay to first was high as Karkos scored to make it 3-2.  Zach Groat followed with a single, which Corbin Hyde misplayed in center field and allowed Van Note to score the tying run.

Smith-Tobey threatened again in the sixth. After Mekae Hyde wiped off Barrett’s leadoff single by picking him off first base, Trent Charnock walked. Cote struck out Brendan Glass looking, then walked C.J. Hardin, who was hitting in Nick Karkos’ spot in the order.

Once Hardin reached first, Cifelli emerged from the dugout with assistant coach Mat Gordon in tow holding the scorebook. The conference with home plate umpire Mike Henry lasted several minutes before Henry ruled Hardin out for batting out of order.

The previous inning, Smith-Tobey had announced Hardin was entering the game as a defensive replacement for Glass.

“I reported the number and I got my numbers mixed up,” Smith-Tobey coach Bob Neron said. “I’ll have all winter to think about that. Did it have an outcome on the game? Obviously, it was 3-3 going into the seventh and we had first and second with two outs. I’ll think about that until next spring.”

“Right off the bat, Mat Gordon said we’ve got a new hitter batting third, and they reported Hardin for Glass. Obviously, when Glass came back up, we knew something was awry,” Cifelli said.