AUGUSTA – Saco & Biddeford Savings left fielder Robbie Hamilton haunted his old teammates Wednesday on the opening day of the American Legion baseball state tournament.

Hamilton, who graduated from Windham High in 2012, drove in five runs with two doubles and a home run to lift the Westbrook club to an 8-7 victory against Windham.

“He made up for all of the mistakes made by other guys today,” SBS Coach Greg Souza said.

Hamilton, who spent two months in Tanzania as a volunteer teaching English to kindergarten students, didn’t play baseball this spring. When he tried to reclaim his spot on the Windham team this summer as a 19-year-old, there was no room on the roster.

“I played all the way through high school with Windham, but when I call them they said their roster was full and they wouldn’t let me play,” he said. “This is the first time I’ve played against them. They’re my best friends and playing against them is a good time.”

Windham scored the first run without a hit. Calvin Field reached on an error to lead off, stole second, went to third on a balk and scored on a grounder.

Hamilton made it 3-1 with an opposite-field, bases-loaded double to right in the bottom of the first. Westbrook took a 5-1 lead in the second on Kyle Heath’s two-out, two-run double.

Field singled in a fourth-inning run to make it 5-2.

In the top of the fifth, Windham scored four runs to take a 6-5 lead. Ethan Petty tied it with a bases-loaded double off the wall in right and scored the go-ahead run on Nate Boyle’s single.

Windham, which won a play-in game to get into the tournament, took a 7-5 lead in the top of the sixth on another unearned run. Joey Francoeur singled with one out, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on an error.

In the bottom of the sixth, Westbrook made it 7-6 when Austin Blake reached on an error, went to second on a bunt and scored on Joe Quinlan’s single.

In the seventh, Hamilton launched a two-out, bases-empty homer to right to tie it.

Zack Bean, who led off the bottom of the ninth with a bad-hop single through the left side, scored the winning run when Hamilton drove a double past third into the left-field corner. 

BANGOR 14, FAYETTE-STAPLES 0: Justin Courtney, an incoming senior at Bangor High who verbally committed to attend the University of Maine earlier this week, allowed two hits and struck out nine in five innings for Bangor.

Courtney singled three times, and Curtis Worcester and Hunter Boyle each singled twice to drive in two runs as Bangor upped its record to 24-3 in a game that ended after seven innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.

Alex Fallen and Drew Gelinas had doubles for Fayette-Staples Post, made up primarily of players from Thornton Academy.

STAPLES CROSSING 10, BREWER 3: Jake Lebel drove in four runs to spark the South Berwick team.

Lebel drove in two runs with a second-inning double and belted a two-run homer in the eighth.

PAST TIME CLUB 3, RED BARN 1: Corbin Hyde scattered six hits and struck out 16 over eight innings as Past Time, from Lewiston, opened the tournament with a victory.

Hyde, who walked one, drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the fourth. He also doubled and scored on Brian Wigeant’s single in the seventh.

John Suga singled three times for Red Barn, from Augusta.

Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:

pbetit@pressherald.com

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