BANGOR  — Bessey Motors’ flare for late-inning dramatics in the post-season carried over into its state American Legion tournament opener on Wednesday.

But tempting fate only gets one so far in a double-elimination tournament, as Bessey learned Thursday.

Gary Farnham tossed 8 1/3 shutout innings and Noah Missbrenner closed it out with the tying runs in scoring position to deny Bessey another ninth inning comeback and keep Bangor Coffee News in the winner’s bracket with a 2-0 victory at the Winkin Complex on the campus of Husson University.

Bessey Motors, the Zone 2 champion, will face the zone runner-up Pastime Club in an elimination game at 1 p.m. on Friday.

Coffee News will play the winner of Thursday night’s game between Yankee Ford and Wells on Friday at 7 p.m.

Farnham scattered four hits and three walks while fanning seven before being lifted due to Legion’s new 120-pitch limit, much to his chagrin, with one out and one on in the ninth.

“I was just saying, ‘Whoever made up that pitch count rule…’ because, yeah, last year I would have been still going,” Farnham said. “We always have guys that step up and Noah Missbrenner stepped up big and got those last two outs.”

Missbrenner came on and allowed a bloop single to Brayden Bean (two hits). A passed ball moved both runners up a base, but Missbrenner got a fly out and strikeout to seal it.

“We had our chances,” said Bessey Motors coach Shane Slicer, whose team scored four in the ninth to beat Coastal Landscape, 4-3, on Wednesday. “We’ve got to score earlier on him… I like the fight, but we can’t rely on that extra energy in the ninth to try to win games like we have been. We’ve got to take care of business, one through eight.”

Farnham outduled Bessey’s Colton Carson, who went the distance, allowed five hits, one walk and two earned runs. He struck out seven and hit two batters.

“He did a really nice job of getting out of trouble, stranding some guys,” Slicer said. “Defensively, I thought we played a pretty clean game. They squared him up a few times early and they were right at our outfielders. But I thought he battled really well.”

Carson and Farnham matched zeros on the scoreboard until the sixth. Tyler Parke belted a one-out double to left-center for Coffee News. After a strikeout, Zach Cowperthwaite hit one in almost the same spot for a 1-0 lead.

The Comrades made it 2-0 in the seventh when Ben Crichton led off with a single, stole second, advanced to third on Zach Ireland’s bunt and scored on Farnham’s ground out to second.

Bessey put at least one runner on in each of the first four innings against Farnham but left seven on base for the game. 

In the first, Farnham allowed a single and walk with one out, but got a called third strike and a ground out to escape. 

He worked around a two-out single in the second, erased a leadoff walk with a 6-4-3 double play in the third and stranded a runner at second with one out in the fourth.

Farnham found his groove in the middle innings, retiring nine in a row before Bean’s leadoff single in the seventh. Bean stole second and went to third on Troy Johnson’s bunt, but Farnham kept him 90 feet away with back-to-back ground outs.

“We were too patient,” Slicer said.  “We struck out with guys in scoring position but you’ve got to give (Farnham) credit. He was tough to pick up.  He didn’t get tired, really. I thought he pitched a really good game.”

“I felt good today, hitting spots, worked a couple of other pitches in there near the end just kept them guessing the whole game,” Farnham said. “That was the plan going into it.”

Standing at 109 pitches heading to the ninth, Farnham started the frame with a strikeout, then walked Ashton Kennison on a 3-2 pitch to bring down the curtain on his day.

“It would be easy to say ‘Yeah, I would have (kept him in),'” Morris said. “I thought he still had some good zip on his fastball. He was working that curve ball those last six hitters, which was key because they were sitting fastball, and he threw the curve ball for a strike and got a couple of guys on the third strike.”

“That’s only his third game he’s pitched all summer, so he’s fresh,” he added.

After Bean’s single put the tying run on, Chickering hit a line drive foul down the left field line that would have been extra bases if it landed a couple of feet to the right.

Both runners moved up on a passed ball, but Missbrenner buckled down and got Chickering to fly out to medium-depth center as both runners held. He struck out Wyatt Williamson looking to end it.

“He’s got the right disposition for that position. Not a lot bothers him and he throws strikes,” Morris said. 

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