AUGUSTA — Gayton Post 31’s pair of aces held up against Bangor’s full house on Saturday, and the Twin Cities-based American Legion baseball team is back in the championship round for the second consecutive year.

Gayton lefty Corbin Hyde froze Bangor’s Jack Stacey with a swooping curve ball with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning, registering his third strikeout of the frame, to help his squad edge the Comrades 8-7 in an elimination game at the Maine American Legion baseball tourney.

“We were ready to go to (Hyde and fellow ace Joe Sullivan),” Cifelli said. “You have to play for today and not worry about tomorrow, and neither were extended based on where they came from on Wednesday and Thursday. We felt good about their pitch counts and it was an appropriate time for them to be throwing. We didn’t want to start them … but for them to come out of the bullpen, they’re very effective bullpen guys.”

Cifelli went to Sullivan in the seventh, and he retired six consecutive batters before allowing a lead-off single in the bottom of the ninth to Bangor’s Nic Cota. Cifelli swapped Sullivan out for Hyde, who plunked Dylan Morris on the second pitch he threw to put a second runner on with no outs.

“I was a little nervous after beaning that guy,” Hyde said. “I knew I just had to take deep breaths and throw strikes. I looked at spots on my brother’s equipment, made my throws and just tried to keep it away so they didn’t have a fat pitch to square up.”

Hyde went full to Christian Corneil before striking the Comrades’ No. 3 hitter out looking. Joe Stanevicz then looped a seeing-eye single into left field, just out of the reach of Gayton shortstop Alex Parker, to load the bases.

“He fought it off well,” Hyde said. “I thought for sure (Parker) was going to get it, but he made enough contact to loop it over his head. It was a nice hit.”

Hyde again went to a full count with Jesse Wood before blowing a pitch by the Bangor first baseman to get the second out, setting up his duel with Stacey. With an 0-2 count, Hyde thought he’d rung Stacey up but that first big curve just missed.

“I thought for sure I had him,” Hyde said. “It was a close pitch. It could have gone either way. It might have been a little bit inside.

“I just took a couple more deep breaths, and I knew I was going to throw that pitch again. I was sure he’d be expecting another curve ball so I just threw him a couple fastballs just to get him thinking fastball again so I could come with the curve again.”

Three pitches later, Hyde fooled Stacey again, and this time got the call from the umpire to end the game.

“(Loading the bases) is what we were hoping we were going to do, and we had a great opportunity,” Bangor coach David Morris said. “Unfortunately we just didn’t take advantage of it.”

That Bangor was still in the game at all was a testament to the team’s staying power. After the Comrades plated a pair of runs in the first inning off Gayton starter Matt Bowen, Gayton teed off on Bangor’s starter, Stanevicz, sending 11 batters to the plate and scoring six runs in the second inning to take a four-run lead.

“In a lot of ways I lost that game for them,” Morris said. “I probably should have taken (Stanevicz) out sooner than I did. I got outcoached. I really should have taken him out earlier, after four runs instead of six. It’s tough for the kids. They did a great job. They battled from behind, but I kind of put them in a position where we had to work a little bit harder than we probably should have.”

“We wanted to see some pitches,” Cifelli said. “Stanevicz threw nine innings on Wednesday and we wanted to drive his pitch count up, try to get into their head a little bit. We did that.”

Once Bangor called on Greg Duff, the Gayton offense slowed down, much like what happened to them against Bessey Motors on Friday after another early outburst.

“Duff was outstanding,” Cifelli said. “(Friday) we faced (Bessey Motors’ Cody) Hadley in relief and he was outstanding, and today it was Duff. They were money.”

“I think the greatest thing about on any sport, you put a kid like (Duff) in, it’s nice to see a kid … you always find a sleeper,” Morris said. “You find a young kid who comes out, steps up and really grows as a baseball player. I can’t say enough. It was just a gutsy performance. There were a lot of situations there where they could have opened the game up, and he just battled.”

Two more Gayton runs did cross the plate — one each in the third and fifth innings — after Duff put each of those runners on by hitting them. Mat Gordon scored on an Alex Parker sacrifice in the third, and Mekae Hyde scampered home on a single by Scott Ouellette with what proved to be the winning run in the fifth. Gayton sent five hitters to the dish in the seventh, four more in the eighth and five again in the ninth, but the Comrades never broke.

Meanwhile, on offense, they continued to chip away, getting one run in the fourth, another in the fifth and three in the sixth off Bowen and reliever Shawn Ricker, who allowed three inherited runners to score, but no more.

Gayton moves to the final day of the tourney for the second consecutive season. In 2010, Post 31 battled through a pair of games on the final day to earn the state crown. If Gayton hopes to repeat, it will have to win a pair on Sunday, beginning at noon.