SOUTH PARIS

The American Legion Zone III baseball season has become a daily grind, where truly any team can win on a given night.

On Saturday, Brunswick dropped both ends of a doubleheader to Bessey Motors, 13-4 and 4-0. One week earlier, Brunswick defeated Windham twice, with Windham turning around and ending Pastime Club’s (Lewiston) 29- game winning streak with a doubleheader sweep on Saturday.

With the playoffs only a few weeks away, things have truly become unpredictable.

“It has been a grind so far,” said Smith-Tobey Post 21 coach Bob Neron, whose team joined Bethel/Locke Mill, Brunswick and New Auburn with 6-6 records after a sweep of Mechanic Falls/Poland (4-8) on Saturday by 4-3 and 11-10 scores. “The playoffs will be fun, and Lewiston losing to a good Windham team (7-5) really gives everyone the thought that they have a chance.”

Brunswick

Against Bessey Motors, Brunswick struggled out of the gate, committing several miscues while falling 13-4.

Jordan Croteau paced Bessey, which improved to 8-4, with three hits, including a double. Dylan Cox and Nick Bowie each singled and doubled, while Matt Beauchesne and Dalton Rice picked up a pair of singles.

On the mound, Ian MacFawn went the distance on five strikeouts and three walks.

Zach Lavoie led Brunswick with a single and an RBI double, with Ryan Salerno picking up a pair of hits. Jesse Bennett, Chris Bruno and Trent Anderson each singled.

John Parker took the loss, permitting 11 hits and five walks with four strikeouts.

In the nightcap, Brunswick pitcher Salerno and Bessey’s Mike Mageles wasted little time in a fast-moving contest.

Mageles was proficient on the mound, tossing just 61 pitches in limiting Brunswick to three hits, a double by Bruno and a single each by Anderson and Alex Viola. The lefty struck out just one, but didn’t walk a Brunswick hitter. In five of his seven innings, he threw just eight pitches.

“He kept the ball down and had a nice splitter that moved to the outside on right-handed hitters,” said Bruno, who played shortstop for the first time and made several nice plays to keep the game close. “Today, we didn’t have our full squad here, but when we do, we can play with anyone. We just have to cut out the mental errors.”

Bessey jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Croteau doubled to scored Ty Martin.

Salerno, who struck out three and walked four as part of his completegame effort, made his pitches over the next two innings, but Bessey broke things open in the fourth. Cox tripled to deep right field. A pop up by Ryan Godin was lost in the sun and fell in the infield to put runners at the corners with one out. A wild pitch allowed Cox to score, Godin came home on an error and Beauchesne’s RBI triple made it 4-0.

Beauchesne was 2-for-4 at the plate with a double and a triple to pace Bessey.

Smith-Tobey

In both games on Saturday at Mechanic Falls, Smith-Tobey trailed heading to the seventh, but managed to rally to come out on top.

Down 3-1 in the opener, Ryan Lathrop walked, and Torrey Charnock and Nick Karkos were each hit with a pitch to load the bases. Zach Groat’s two-run single tied the game, and Wade Hunt put Smith-Tobey in the lead with a run-scoring single.

Hunt had two of Smith-Tobey’s seven hits, while Lathrop earned the mound win, going six innings on five hits, one strikeout and one walk. Charnock pitched a 1-2-3 seventh for the save.

Connor King paced Mechanic Falls with a double and a home run.

In a wild, back-and-forth nightcap, Smith-Tobey trailed 3-0, 5-3 and 10-9, but rallied each time.

Brendon Glass ripped a two-run double in the fourth inning as Smith- Tobey rallied from an early 3-0 deficit. The big blow for the visitors came in the sixth as Groat launched a grandslam home run to give Smith-Tobey a 9-8 lead.

Mechanic Falls came back to take the lead in the home half of the sixth. The hosts had 18 hits, led by Zak Johnson’s four singles. King singled three times, Jake Simard and Luke Johnson singled and doubled, while CJ Martin, Andrew Berg and Kyle Hargreaves each singled twice.

Smith-Tobey had one final rally left. In the seventh, Jordan Daigle walked, one of 10 free passes by Mechanic Falls pitching. A sacrifice bunt by Trent Charnock followed, and Joey Van Note tied the game with an RBI single. Groat’s game-winning single scored Van Note with the winning run.

This week, Brunswick travels to Lewiston to take on Pastime Club on Tuesday, while Smith-Tobey hosts Bethel-Locke Mill on Thursday at Kelley Field in Bath. Brunswick and Smith-Tobey are slated to meet this upcoming Saturday at Edwards Field in a key doubleheader, beginning at 9:30 a.m.

“Every game is big now, and Saturday at Brunswick will be no different,” concluded Neron.