POLAND — Since joining Tri-Town this season after a stint with Bessey Motors, Ian MacFawn has wanted nothing more than to contribute to the offense.

“I haven’t really had any great at bats,” MacFawn said. “I actually can’t even recall a hit, to be honest with you.”

The Fryeburg Academy graduate had two big hits in back-to-back at bats Saturday, a two-run home run to awaken Tri-Town from its offensive slumber, then another two-run blast to give it its first lead of the day.

To top it off, he scattered seven hits and struck out 10 to pick up the complete game victory as Tri-Town salvaged a split with Pastime Club in a big Zone 3 American Legion doubleheader.

Pastime flashed the leather in the opener for a 7-4 win. Pastime is now 11-4, Tri-Town 9-4. The two teams are locked in a four-way race with Brunswick and Rogers Post for the No. 2 seed in next week’s zone tournament as the regular season hits the stretch drive. Bessey Motors clinched the top seed and regular season title with a doubleheaders sweep Saturday.

“We’re looking for a home playoff game, trying to get into a nice seeding spot and get things lined up for playoffs while still being competitive,” Pastime coach Dave Jordan said. “I think everyone’s in that battle right now, trying to find certain seeding spots while staying away from other spots.”

Pastime appeared to be headed for a sweep after it took a 3-0 lead on Ryan Riordan’s two-run single in the third and Alex Small’s RBI suicide squeeze in the third.

With two out in the fourth, MacFawn belted a 2-0 pitch from Matt Poulin over the fence in left to cut the deficit to one.

In the sixth, MacFawn turned on an 0-1 pitch from Poulin and homered to left-center to put Tri-Town in front.

“It’s good to make a contribution other than striking out every time,” MacFawn said. “The first one, I couldn’t even feel it (coming off the bat). The second one was a little off the end, but it still felt good.”

“I’ve always thought that Ian could hit. I’ve watched him play over the years and we made a tiny adjustment in his mechanics and today it looked like it may have helped,” Tri-Town coach Hal Bridgham said.

MacFawn’s second homer sparked a five-run inning. Younger brother Willy MacFawn and Pat Jipson added RBI singles.

“The boys from Fryeburg are both really good young men and they travel a long way to play,” Bridgham said. “I appreciate how much they love the game to do that.”

Ian MacFawn worked around four Tri-Town errors by not walking anyone (he hit one batter). But the defense did come up with a big play in the sixth when catcher Tanner Marston pounced on a wild pitch to the back stop and fired to MacFawn covering home plate to cut down Poulin trying to score the tying run from third.

“I was just getting my confidence and getting to know the batters,” MacFawn said. “It usually takes me a little while to get going.”

Pastime threw out two runners at the plate and one at third to keep Game 1 from being any close after it jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning.

RBI singles by Poulin, Caleb Dostie and Small and Austin Wing’s sacrifice fly provided that early margin. Mike Wong and Ryan Riordan each drove in a run in the fourth to make it 6-0.

Riordan limited Tri-Town to one hit through the first four innings but suffered from bouts of wildness (eight walks). He escaped a bases-loaded, none out jam in the first after Dostie made a diving catch on Zak Johnson’s line drive up the middle and tagged second with his glove for an unassisted double play.

Tri-Town chased Riordan with three runs in the fifth, two coming in on back-to-back bases loaded walks issued by Riordan and reliever Mike Wong.

Tri-Town threatened more damage, but Small threw a runner out at the plate trying to score on a wild pitch, Riordan and Dostie combined to nab a runner trying to stretch a double into a triple and Riordan gunned down a second runner trying to score on Jake Simard’s RBI single in the seventh.

“Our pitching has been very good for us most of the summer. We field the ball for the most part, and we’ve put the ball in play and moved people around just enough and executed quite well in the bases,” Jordan said. “Today, when we didn’t get a few more runs in in that second game, it made me nervous knowing that they are a very good hitting team.”

Rogers Post sweeps

BETHEL — Brandon Varney’s ground rule double was the key hit in the top of fifth as Rogers Post scored three times in that inning and held off Locke Mills with a 5-4 victory.

Rogers Post scored twice in the top of the seventh as had four singles to start the inning. Varney and Drew Lashua came around to score.

Chad Snowman and Gavin Arsenault each had a multi-hit game for Locke Mills. Snowman had a home run in the bottom of the seventh. Arsenault tripled.

In the second game, Rogers Post rolled to a 11-1 victory. After going up 2-0 in the top of the first as both runs came from walks, Rogers Post used its bats in the top of the third. Lashua had an RBI double and Brian Crane drove himself in with a home run to cap of a three-run inning.

Rogers Post (8-6) scored four more times in the fourth and twice more in the fifth. Locke Mills’ (5-10) lone run in the second contest came in the bottom of the first off a Kaine Hutchins ground out.

Bessey Motors sweeps

PARIS — Brady LaFrance led the offensive charge for Bessey Motors in Game 1 of their doubleheeder with Highland Green. He had two hits including a double and three RBIs in the 13-0 victory.

Ty Martin also had two hits, including a double in the victory. Mike Mageles picked up the victory as he went the first four innings of the shortened five-inning game.

In the second game, it was more of the same as Bessey Motors cruised to a 10-0 win, scoring six runs in the sixth inning. Martin had two doubles while Riley Chickering and LaFrance all had two hits in the contest. Mitch Lorenz had a triple and Matt Smith drove in two runs. Matt Beauchesne had three hits

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