WATERVILLE — In a baseball game, two-out hitting is often the key between a win and a loss.

At Colby College on Saturday, Legendary Status of Lisbon received a pair of key two-out RBI hits by Neil LaRochelle, along with a solid complete-game performance by pitcher Hunter Brissette in a 5-2 Junior American Legion quarterfinal win over Lewiston.

Lisbon faces the winner of Saturday’s Rogers Post-Fairfield winner in the semifinals on Sunday at 4:30 p.m., with the title game slated for a 7:30 p.m. start Sunday night.

Leading 1-0 in the third, Levi Levesque and Justin Le singled to open the frame. Levesque was erased on a Brissette fielder’s choice, and a ground ball back to Lewiston starting pitcher Caleb Valliere moved Le and Brissette into scoring position with two outs. However, LaRochelle followed by driving a 2-2 pitch to right-center field for a 3-0 lead.

“Neil is my guy, my clutch guy and why he is in the three spot,” said Lisbon coach Darren Brown after his No. 3-seeded team improved to 11-3. “We just play baseball. Practices, we go through basic stuff, ground ball, ground ball, ground ball, and base hits. It has worked all season for us.”

With two outs, Lewiston finished 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, leaving nine runners on base.

“Those little mistakes that we made and the ones we don’t capitalize on came back to hurt us today,” said Lewiston (9-8) coach Dennis St. Hilaire. “We had some base-running mistakes that cost us, and that was the difference in the close game. Lisbon is a really good team that had our number this year.”

Brissette and Valliere started strong, both recording quick 1-2-3 frames in the first. Lewiston went three innings without a hit, with Cooper St. Hilaire reaching on a walk and Daxton St. Hilaire hit by a pitch.

Lisbon grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second. Jack Tibbetts reached on an error, moved to second on a ground ball and to third on a wild pitch. Levi Tibbetts picked up the RBI with a groundout.

Down 3-0, Lewiston finally got to Brissette. Brandon Farinas and Cooper St. Hilaire singled, and Evan Raymond drove in Farinas with a single to center field. A walk to Cole Ulrich loaded the bases with one out, but Brissette, who found success working out of the stretch, buckled down for the final two outs of the frame to escape.

“Sometimes I like pitching from the stretch, and I seem more comfortable when there are guys on base,” said Brissette, who allowed six hits, walked five and struck out six while throwing 99 pitches. “It was tough, especially in the late innings when I got tired.”

“Our defense is solid, and as a pitcher when you know that you just pitch your game,” said Brown. “Tired or not he was still dealing.”

Lisbon tacked on two more runs in the fifth against Raymond, who relieved Valliere in the fourth. With Brissette at second with two outs, LaRochelle rolled a single to left field for a 4-1 lead. LaRochelle (2-for-3, three RBIs) scored on a hustle double by Jack Tibbetts.

Lewiston threatened in the seventh. A two-out RBI single by Anden Cox scored Matt Connor, bringing the tying run to the plate. But, a shallow fly ball to right field ended the game and Lewiston’s season.

“We had a bunch of eighth-graders here today, so we were really young, but I am proud of the way we hung in and battled,” said Dennis St. Hilaire.

Valliere and Raymond combined on the mound for four strikeouts, two walks and six hits. Lisbon left four runners on base.

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