Yankee Ford put up four runs in the first inning to stun Pastime Club, but had to hold on late against Pastime’s comeback charge in the final inning to post a 7-6 win in the first round of the American Legion state baseball tourney at the Winkin Complex on the campus of Husson University in Bangor on Wednesday.

Pastime entered the ninth trailing by four, but got things going against the Yankee Ford relief corps. 

Brock Belanger started the top of the ninth with a walk for Pastime. His teammates behind him hot a single and drew another walk to load the bases.

Lucas Francis then hit a sacrifice fly to plate Belanger, cutting the deficit to three. Pastime drew two more walks to pull within a run, but a grounder to third ended the comeback.

“I’m proud of my guys,” Yankee Ford Manager Al Livingston said. “That’s a lot of pressure on that last play with the throw to first. Not every kid can make that play.”

Yankee got its offense going right off the bat when Sam Troiano singled to center on the first pitch he saw. Nate Ingalls walked and Ben Conti followed with an RBI single. A grounder to shortstop was misplayed and the error cost Pastime another run. Arlo Pike drove in a run from a single, and Yankee Ford finished the inning with a 4-0 lead.

“The first inning we got to them very quick,” Livingston said. “But then our offense got pretty stagnant. I don’t think we had the discipline we needed.”

Pastime and Yankee both went scoreless until the fourth inning.

In the top of the fourth, Hunter Landry led off with a walk. A sacrifice bunt moved him to second and a Hunter Richardson walk pushed him to third. Landry scored when Nick Lerrette earned a walk.

In the bottom of the fourth, Marshall Peterson led off with a walk and moved to second on a bad pickoff throw to first. Ingalls and Ben Conti both singled with Ingalls later scoring along with Peterson and just like that Yankee extended its lead to 6-1.

In the top of the fifth, Belanger got the ball rolling for Pastime with a triple. Hunter Landry followed with an RBI single to edge Pastime closer to the leaders at 6-2.

“I told my guys that this is what playoff baseball is all about,” Pastime manager Jake Brown said. “Were we going to be a team that rolled over, or a team that kept fighting? I was proud.”

In the seventh inning, Yankee moved to its third pitcher of the afternoon in Ingalls in part because of pitch count rules.

“The pitch count rules put us in a tough spot,” Livingston said. “I feel 75 is too low, but we had to use different guys.”

In the bottom half of the eighth, with a lead of 6-3 following a seventh-inning run from Pastime’s Jack Leblond, Yankee answered. Alex Livingston singled and was moved over to third on two sacrifices. Ingalls later hit Livingston home with a single of his own, making it 7-3.

Pastime will play in an elimination game Thursday at 1 p.m., while Yankee Ford will play at 7 p.m. in a winner’s bracket game.

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