AUBURN – New Auburn Post 153 clinched the Zone 3 regular season championship and a spot in the state tournament with a come-from-behind 8-7 win in extra innings over Andy Valley in American Legion action Wednesday.
A five-run third propelled Andy Valley (14-6) to a 6-1 lead, but New Auburn chipped away with three in the bottom of the third and single markers in the fourth and sixth to tie the game at 6-6.
Ben Mendelson singled home Alex Cutter in the top of the seventh to put Andy Valley back on top, but Brady Blackman knotted it at 7-7 in the bottom of the frame with a solo homer. Brian Erickson led off the bottom of the eighth with a triple then, following two intentional walks, scored the winning run on a Blackman single.
Blackman finished the game with four hits, while Erickson, Matt Nadeau, Chris Merrill and Justin Ciszeski chipped in with two apiece for New Auburn (16-5). Ciszewski also had a home run.
Cutter and Levi Armandi led Andy Valley with two hits each.
Merrill made the comeback possible with an outstanding relief effort, yielding just one run and three hits and 5 1/3 innings to pick up the win.
New Auburn will be the top seed in this weekend’s zone tournament and will host No. 8 Gray.
Smith-Tobey 5, Bessey Motors 4
SOUTH PARIS – Smith-Tobey Post of Bath took full advantage of walks and errors to secure a 5-4 Zone 3 victory over Bessey Motors.
Catcher Chris Cloutier had the only extra base hit for Smith-Tobey with a double. Bessey Motors’ Chris Jennings and Kyle Keniston were the game’s only repeat hitters with two hits each.
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