BATH — Giving up late leads has been a recent problem for the Smith- Tobey Post 21 baseball team in American Legion Zone III play.

On Tuesday, a 6-0 fifth-inning lead evaporated in a nine-run fifth, resulting in a 9-6 loss to Pastime Club of Lewiston, and a 1-0 advantage on Thursday against rival Brunswick at Kelley Field went away in the top of the seventh inning.

But, Smith-Tobey persevered on this night, getting a walk-off threerun home run from Wade Hunt in the eighth inning for a 4-1 victory, giving the hosts an edge in the standings over Brunswick.

Both teams are 8-9, with Smith- Tobey scheduled to host Andy Valley today at 5 p.m. in a regular-season ending nine-inning contest, while Brunswick visits Mechanic Falls/Poland on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. With a 2-1 edge over Brunswick in the season series, if the teams end deadlocked, Smith-Tobey owns the tiebreaker.

“This is the kind of win we needed as we get ready for the playoffs on Monday,” said Smith-Tobey coach Bob Neron. “We’ve lost a lot of games like this throughout the summer, so it’s nice to be on the winning end.”

“I was just trying to hit it hard and get a flyball to the outfield with a runner at third with one out,” said Hunt of his game-winning home run. “This is a big win for us. We have the talent to do well in the playoffs. We just have to show it.”

Hunt’s home run ruined a superb pitching performance from Brunswick’s Luke Carter, who went the distance on just 93 pitches. Carter struck out seven and permitted just five hits.

On the other side, Torrey Charnock bounced back after a tough performance on Saturday with seven strong innings for Smith-Tobey on seven strikeouts, one walk and seven hits.

“Luke is a very deceptive pitcher and fools the hitter with his looping curveball and sneaky fastball. He does it all the time,” said Brunswick coach Tony Viola.

“I think this was Torrey’s best game,” said Smith-Tobey coach Bob Neron.

Smith-Tobey lead

The hosts jumped on top in the second inning without the benefit of a hit. Back-to-back errors on Carter put Aaron Barrett and Nick Karkos on to open the frame. After a stolen base each, Trent Charnock’s grounder scored Barrett for a 1-0 lead.

The pitchers dominated from there. Carter’s curveball had Smith- Tobey off-balance, with a hit each coming from Torrey Charnock and Jordan Daigle through six innings.

“I kept them off-balance with the curveball, but we just couldn’t score off of Charnock,” said Carter.

After leaving one runner on third base in each of the first five innings, Brunswick finally plated a run in the seventh. Brett Lancaster drove a single up the middle, and Tommy Favreau’s sacrifice bunt moved pinch-runner Alex Viola to second base. After an Adam Casey walk, Carter’s grounder was misplayed for an error, allowing Viola to score the tying run.

“I knew that we would come back eventually,” said Carter.

In the home half of the seventh, Trent Charnock singled and stole second. Dan Porter ripped a single to center field, but Trent Charnock was gunned down at the plate to send the game into extra frames.

Brunswick had a chance to jump on top in the eighth, as Chris Bruno, who was 2-for-4, and Viola singled to put runners at the corners with two outs against Smith-Tobey relief pitcher Reid Drouin. However, the lefty escaped by retiring Favreau on a groundball to end the inning.

Carter ran into trouble in the eighth. Daigle walked, stole second and moved to third on a groundball by Torrey Charnock. After an intentional walk to Zach Groat, Hunt drove a 3-1 pitch over the center-field fence to end it.

Garrett Erb was 2-for-4 (single, double) at the plate for Brunswick.

Junior Legion

Trey Michonski tossed a one-hitter as Somerset took a 4-2 decision over Brunswick at Edwards Field on Thursday.

Brunswick pitcher Jason Carter was solid, allowing just four hits, with none of the runs earned.

Parker Wild had the lone hit for Brunswick, which plays host to Biddeford on Saturday at 10 a.m.

Derek McCarty, Cody Soucier, Trey Michonski and Cody Laweryson each singled for Somerset.