LEWISTON – The one run was more than Andy Valley wanted to allow in either inning but still not a bad compromise for this baseball team.

From Gayton Post’s perspective, a lone run in the sixth and second innings was far from enough. But Andy Valley still escaped both Gayton Post threats Thursday and managed a 4-2 American Legion baseball victory.

“When you get in a tough situation like that, to get out of it means a lot,” said Andy Valley coach Jeff Gilbert. “They’re a good ball club, and they’ve beat us two out of three.”

Gayton had beaten Andy Valley 8-6 and 6-1 this season and appeared on the verge of opening a lead in Thursday’s game. After Andy Valley loaded the bases with one out in the first and failed to score, Gayton loaded things up with no outs in the second. The only run that came across was a bases-loaded walk to Chad Guimond that scored Jack Lavoie.

“Bases loaded with nobody out, and you get one run and on a walk,” said Gayton coach Don King.

“We’ve got to find ways to score runs. We can play with people, but at some point, teams that shouldn’t beat you do because they happen to score.”

Gayton (9-5) also squandered a prime chance to tie the game in the sixth. Down 3-1 with one out, Ryan Turgeon singled and Tyler Turgeon doubled. Lavoie followed with a chopper to second that scored one, but Andy Valley pitcher Dustin Gilbert got out of the jam by getting Chad Kordalski to pop out on a nice running catch by Brad Bryant at second.

“Any time you start pressing, we’ve got guys that can hit the ball, but they’re pressing to do more than they can,” said King.

Gayton’s Luke Potter pitched a solid game and allowed just five hits overall. He held Andy Valley scoreless through three innings, but Gayton had the tide turned in the fourth. With two outs, Andy Valley got a single from Shawn Libby to make it 2-1.

“It was exciting,” said Libby. “It’s been a little while since I had a big hit.”

Gayton allowed Gilbert to score in the fifth on a passed ball and then failed to tie it in the sixth. Gilbert allowed just five hits.

“We didn’t handle the pressure,” said King. “We started pressing, and when it didn’t happen for us, we started playing frustrated baseball.”

Andy Valley added another run in the seventh when Scott Wetherell tripled in a run. With Saturday’s forfeited games against Gayton going in the win column, its a big swing for Andy Valley (6-8).

“We’re .500 now and hopefully we can play like we have been,” said Libby. “This was one of our first solid games. We had a good defense all around.”