BIDDEFORD — Kobe Gaudette, Ben Ham and Grant Dow hit consecutive home runs to spark Saco Maremont to an 11-5 win against Bronco LL to remain alive in the Little League baseball state tournament Wednesday afternoon.

The District 4 champions avoided elimination for the third straight game in the tournament for 11- and 12-year-old players to move into the championship round against unbeaten Falmouth.

Additional Images

Saco Maremont’s Ben Ham, center, gets mobbed by his teammates after hitting the second of three straight home runs by the team in a Little League state tournament game. Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer

The teams are scheduled to play at 4 p.m. Thursday at Biddeford’s Hill Street Field. Falmouth rolled to a 13-8 win against Saco, the defending state champion, on the second day of the tournament.

“Our success does thrive on the losers’ bracket, it seems,” Saco Maremont Manager Grant Gaudette said. “We had to do the same thing in the districts.”

The Saco team had to win three consecutive games after falling into the losers’ bracket while going 6-1 in the district playoffs. Last summer, it came out of the losers’ bracket to beat Portland North twice to win the state title.

“We always come back, no matter what,” said Dow, who had a double and a single to go along with his home run.

The District 4 champions came back Wednesday after falling behind by five runs in the top of the first inning to the District 3 champions, made up of players from Hampden, Winterport and Newburgh.

“They pitched great, and they hit the ball a ton,” said Bronco Manager Peter Economy. “You can’t leave a fast ball in or they’re going to spank it like they did today. We gave them four or five outs a couple of innings, and that killed us.”

Bronco scored all its runs in the top of first when it sent nine batters to the plate. Jacob Peckham and Wyatt Harrison each hit a two-run single. Kergan Perkins drove in a run with a single.

Saco Maremont scored three runs in the bottom of the first on two errors and run-producing hits by Ham and Dow.

The District 4 champions moved into a 10-5 lead by scoring seven runs in the second inning. After Luke Ham led off with a single, Gaudette, Ben Ham and Dow homered. Two errors and singles by Ethan Tsomidies and Stephen Emerson produced three more runs.

Maremont used six pitchers in the win. After the first inning, Bronco managed only one hit.

None of Maremont’s pitchers threw more than 20 pitches, so all will be available to pitch Thursday in the double-elimination tournament.

“We didn’t pitch anybody out,” Gaudette said. “We’re preparing for the long run, but we still take one (game) at a time.”

Luke Ham led off the bottom of the fifth with long home run to right to complete the scoring.

There have been 31 home runs in the first nine games of the six-team tournament. Nearly half of those have been belted by Maremont.

“We have a lot of good kids who can hit, and you never know who is going to hit what,” Dow said. “We’re always anticipating a home run or a base hit. It doesn’t matter.”