SANFORD – Last year, Ricky Jones of Rockland wasn’t the medalist in the stroke play portion of the Maine Amateur, but worked his way through match play and upended medalist Jay Livingston to claim his first title.

On Wednesday, Jones will defend that title as the No. 1 seed in the 32-man match play field after firing a tournament-low 69 for a two-day total of 4-under-par 140, four better than both John Bauman of Webhannet and Monday’s leader Corey Poulin of Lakewood.

“(Monday) I struggled a bit but made some putts to keep myself close,” Jones said. “(Tuesday) was a redemption day.”

Jones started the day with three straight birdies and maintained his position at 3-under through the tough sixth, seventh and eighth holes. On nine, though, he slipped up.

“After getting through all those tough holes and to still be 3-under, I relaxed a bit,” Jones said. “Maybe a little too much.”

After making a bogey on nine, Jones birdied 10 and played even par golf the rest of the way in to close with a 3-under 69.

“Once you’re out there and you know you’re comfortable to get into the match play portion, you can relax a bit. I didn’t have to press on the back nine.”

One other positive for Jones is that he won’t have to play 13-time champion Mark Plummer in the first round of match play, and probably not in the second, either.

“That is the biggest thing,” Jones said as other players looked on and agreed. “He is so tough in match play, and he’s the only one to have beaten me at it in the tournament.”

Jones lost to Plummer in 20 holes at Augusta Country Club in 2001.

Plummer shot a 1-under 71 to pull himself into fourth place, two shots behind Bauman and Poulin. He will face Gary Manoogian of Falmouth in the round of 32.

Jones, meanwhile, will face Justin Ball of Gorham, who squeaked in with a 156 to avoid a three-man playoff at 157.

Players out early were hampered by a thick fog that rolled in overnight, and many players in the first six or seven groups had trouble seeing their ball in flight.

“Both Scott (DeWitt) and I got to the second tee and couldn’t see more than 20 feet in front of us,” Bauman said. “The funny thing is, Scott hit (his second shot) to within two inches of the hole and I hit it to five feet, and we both made birdie.”

DeWitt finished his two rounds at 3-over-par 147 and qualified fifth for match play.

With the early fog and lingering dew, the course itself played softer, and in turn gave the advantage to the longer hitters off the tee and to accurate iron players on the approach shots.

“It was a bit softer out there today and it made scoring a little bit easier,” said Livingston. “It was easier to be more confident with the course. It’s a great ego boost to be the low medalist, but the biggest thing is just to be around to start match play.”

Livingston shot a 1-over 73 for a two-day total of 149, putting him in eighth place going into the round of 32, where he will face Keith Patterson of Biddeford-Saco.

Joe Alvarez equaled Bauman’s 71 to finish sixth with a 4-over 148 and will face Ron Dery of Biddeford-Saco on Wednesday.

Craig Chapman of Fox Ridge was the lone local qualifier for match play after following up an 80 on Monday with a 74 for a 154. He will square off against No. 11 seed Ben Daughan of York.

Paris Hill’s Joe Baker followed his first-round 77 with an 85 to shoot himself out of contention at 162. Larry Ross of Poland Spring finished with a two-day total of 167, as did Dale Brown of Martindale.

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BREAKOUT INFORMATION

Tuesday at the Maine Amateur

Low score on Tuesday: 69 (Ricky Jones)

Biggest improvement: Bryce Fearon (93 on Monday, 77 on Tuesday)

Toughest hole on Tuesday: Par-4 No. 8 (4.89 strokes per player)

Easiest hole on Tuesday: Par-5 No. 13 (5.16 strokes per player)

Number of previous champions remaining in the field: 2 (Plummer and Jones)

A look ahead to Wednesday

Location: Sanford Country Club, Route 4, Sanford

Time: 7:30 a.m.

Marquee pairings: No. 1 Ricky Jones vs. No. 32 Justin Ball, 7:30 a.m.

No. 2 John Bauman vs. No. 31 Mike Nowak, 8:50 a.m.

No. 3 Corey Poulin vs. No. 30 Jason Gall, 9:30 a.m.

No. 4 Mark Plummer vs. No. 29 Gary Manoogian, 8:10 a.m.

No. 11 Ben Daughan vs. No. 22 Craig Chapman, 10 a.m.