OLD ORCHARD BEACH — American Legion baseball games are scheduled for seven innings, but on Friday afternoon in the Junior Legion state tournament opener, the game was all but decided after just two innings. Bangor plated three runs apiece in the first and second to ease to a tournament-opening 8-1 win over the Wells Warriors at The Ballpark.

Wells went down quietly in order in the top of the first, but Bangor didn’t do the same against Warriors starting pitcher Cody Cousins. The first three Bangor batters reached base ”“ on two singles sandwiched around a walk ”“ to take a 1-0 lead. After Cousins finally got the first out of the inning on a shallow fly out, a double and a sacrifice groundout gave Bangor a 3-0 lead after one.

“We couldn’t find the strike zone. They put the ball in play in positions we weren’t in to field them in,” said Wells manager Todd Day. “They got a little momentum, scored three runs in the first inning, and we had to battle back from there.”

“I guess it was a little nerve-wracking out there, a big game. I struggled at first finding my feel of the ball,” said Cousins. “I was either around the strike zone or pitched it right where they could hit it, and they hit it right in the gaps. It’s tough to go out there and give up so many hits. It’s frustrating.”

Wells showed some life on offense in the top of the second, but after consecutive one-out singles, the next two batters grounded back to pitcher Nick Cowperthwaite, who converted the final two outs.

“We did have opportunities, but we didn’t get the key hit in big situations,” said Day.

For Cousins, the second inning didn’t go any better than the first. He sandwiched a walk and a hit batter around a strikeout to start the inning, then gave up an RBI double to Jake Ireland. Two more runs came home in the inning on a pair of RBI singles, as Bangor went up 6-0.

“They were a good-hitting team. When they saw a strike, they hit it,” said Cousins.

Wells’ first two relief pitchers did their job, as Nick Cousins and Jordan Cluff combined to throw three hitless innings that kept the game within striking distance.

Wells, however, was held to just one hit over Cowperthwaite’s final three innings before making way for Sebastian Matthews in the sixth.

The Warriors finally broke onto the scoreboard in the sixth, as Chandler Bridge led off with a single. Matthews was able to get two outs before Cody Cousins stepped to the plate, and hit what he thought would be a routine fly ball for the third out. But the ball instead glanced off the glove of center fielder Joey Moir, who had to run a long way just to get close to the ball. Bridge scored from third on the play, and Cousins got to second, where he was stranded.

“I was surprised to see it come off his glove, but I was happy to see the run come across,” said Cousins.

Bangor added a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth against Ryan Sousa, with a triple by Tanner Goodine sparking the offense in the inning.

Day sent four pinch hitters to the plate in the top of the seventh, and the quartet created a spark, but couldn’t plate any runs. Hunter McDonnell led off with an infield single, and Cameron Cousins followed with a fly ball to shallow center that Moir made a diving catch on. Matt Trainor hit a single to shallow center to put runners at the corners, but the game came to an end as Leo Heptig grounded back to Matthews, who threw to first for the second out before Gary Farnham gunned down McDonnell trying to score on a delayed run to home.

“We played better baseball over the last portion of the game, and hopefully that will carry over to tomorrow,” said Day.

Wells plays again today at 10 a.m., as the Warriors will try to stave off elimination in the four-team tournament.

“We got to flush it out of our system,” Cousins said of the opening loss. “We got to start off strong, hit the ball, and be ready right from the start.”

— Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or sports@journaltribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.