BIDDEFORD — In a game that featured big momentum swings, a pair of big swings sent Thursday’s American Legion Zone 4 baseball game between Massabesic and Saco & Biddeford Savings into extra innings, then into the books.

Down to its last three outs, Saco & Biddeford Savings (6-4) got a leadoff triple from Casey Twomey, who then easily scored on Kerry Crepeau’s deep sacrifice fly to tie the game up 6-6.

But Massabesic (5-3) countered with a two-out double to deep left-center by Noah Eichler to bring home Sean Adams with the winning run in the top of the eighth inning as the visitors won 7-6 at St. Louis Field.

Eichler didn’t start the game for Massabesic, as he took over in right field in the fourth inning, but he did end the game with his crushing double.

“It was a perfect situation for him, because he is a fastball hitter, 100 percent, and he got the right pitch at the right spot,” said Massabesic manager Jeff Cessario. “He put a good piece on that ball.”

Eichler’s first at bat came in the fifth, when he led off the frame with a fly out to right. His next time up, he singled to right to lead off the sixth. In between was a pivotal inning offensively for Massabesic.

After SBS starting pitcher Brady Crepeau got Eichler to fly out in the fifth, adding to his string of retiring 12 of the first 15 batters he faced, Massabesic put seven of the next eight batters on, turning a 5-1 deficit into a 6-5 lead. Andrew Wicklund started the rally by reaching on an error, then moved around the bases and scored on a single by Matt Allen and an RBI bunt single by Noah Gerry.

“We just strung it together. The last three or four games, we’ve had that one big inning where we just put them all together,” said Cessario. “Hits are contagious.”

Crepeau struck out Derek Coulombe for the second out, but then alternated giving up doubles and singles to the next four batters. The inning only came to an end when Caleb Burpee was gunned down at home trying to score on Remi Gaetjens’ go-ahead single.

“Brady, he does a really nice job of living on the corners. If he has to come over the middle of the plate, that’s when you get into trouble,” said SBS manager Keith LeBlanc. “I think there was a couple close calls, and he wasn’t getting them, so now you have to use a little more of the plate, and that’s when guys will tend to hit you.”

Gaetjens was dealt with his own rough inning on the mound, as SBS put a five-spot of its own on the board in the bottom of the second. Sam Collins and Joey Curit hit consecutive singles to lead off the inning, then Gaetjens hit Dillon Boutin with a pitch to load the bases. Nick Gallant then hit a bouncer back to Gaetjens, who threw off-target to catcher Dawson Renaud to bring in two runs instead of possibly getting two outs.

Two batters later, Twomey hit a two-run single, then scored on Renaud’s throwing error trying to gun down Kerry Crepeau stealing second.

“He got himself into trouble when he fired that ball at Dawson when the bases were loaded. If he takes a little bit off that, that’s a double play and that changes that whole thing around,” Cessario said of Gaetjens. “Nobody is more competitive than him, so I knew that he was going to bear down after inning and shut them down, and he did. He pitched a great game.”

Gaetjens retired 13 of 17 batters at one point until Twomey stepped to the plate in the bottom of the seventh. Twomey then collected his third hit of the game to start the SBS rally.

“He has been on fire lately,” LeBlanc said of Twomey. “He’s getting hits to left field, hits to right field. He’s been hitting all over the place.”

Massabesic, on its third try, finally made a lead stick in the top of the eighth. Adams led off by drawing a walk against SBS reliever Corey Brown ”“ the only free pass issued in the game from either team. Three batters later, Eichler hit a no-doubt double and Adams was off to the races.

Gaetjens then worked around a one-out fielding error by getting Trevor Therrien to ground out to end the game.

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

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