WINTHROP – In the inexact practice of preseason prognostication, Livermore Falls found itself grouped among the Mountain Valley Conference’s Class C elite with Dirigo and Winthrop.

Since the calendar rolled over to May, though, the Andies have started to separate themselves from the pack.

Last week, the Andies beat Dirigo, 7-6, in Dixfield to avenge their only loss of the season. Monday, they went on the road again and took Winthrop by storm, building a big lead then holding off the Ramblers for a 13-8 win.

“They’re one of the best teams in the league, and any time you can beat one of the best teams, it’s a good sign for you,” said Livermore leadoff hitter and center fielder Kevin Gats, who had two hits and made two nice plays in the field.

Jake Marceau reached base five times, scored four times and picked up the win on the mound for Livermore, which put the pressure on the previously unbeaten Ramblers early and never let up.

“We jumped out quick and they came right back and answered, but we didn’t quit,” said Livermore Falls coach Brian Dube. “We kept the bats going, we ran aggressively on the basepaths, and the few mistakes that they made, we took advantage of them.”

The two teams staged nearly identical three-run rallies in the first inning. The Andies jumped out on an RBI double by Kyle Stebbins and a throwing error that scored their other two runs. The Ramblers got an RBI double by Tyler Cobb, a throwing error that scored him from second, then a sacrifice fly by Jordan Conant to tie it.

Marceau settled down after the first, but Winthrop starter Forrest Dwyer had persistent control problems and allowed Livermore Falls (4-1) to put crooked numbers on the board in each of the first five innings. In the second, Dwyer walked in a run and surrendered a sacrifice fly to Josh Tainter. The Andies executed a double steal for the third run of the inning.

“That’s something that we need to do every game, start the bats off quick,” Gats said. “We need top get ahead in the game and just let our pitching do the rest.”

“We couldn’t slow their momentum down for awhile,” Winthrop coach Marc Fortin. “We thought Forrest was the best guy to have out there, even though he was having location problems. But we just weren’t making the plays in the beginning and in the middle innings.”

Winthrop (3-1) threatened to respond again in the bottom of the second, but Gats snuffed out the rally by fielding David Ricker’s single to center and firing a strike to home plate to cut down Bryan Lawson for the final out of the inning.

The Andies kept coming with two more runs on a two-run single by Stebbins in the third and two more unearned runs in the fourth. Another double steal and another Rambler error in the fifth made it 12-3.

Reliever Zach Farrington quieted the Andies’ bats, and Dube braced his club for an inevitable counter surge by the Ramblers. It finally came in the bottom of the fifth. Cobb clubbed an RBI triple and Jordan Conant smacked a two-run double before Marceau gave way to Willie Brown, who yielded RBI singles by Riley Cobb and Brandon Dupuis, then put out the fire.

Brown kept the Ramblers from getting any closer, thanks in part to a fine diving catch by Gats in the sixth.

“We struggled throwing strikes early and I just asked Jake to go with his best pitch today, and once he settled in, he was fine, and then Willie came in and finished it up for us,” Dube said.

Stebbins reached base four times with two hits and three runs scored for the Andies. Lawson, Dwyer and Tyler Cobb finished with two hits apiece for the Ramblers.