SOUTH PORTLAND — Sometimes in baseball everything goes right, and other times it all goes wrong. Morrill Post of South Portland experienced the former while its opponent, Saco-Biddeford Savings of Biddeford, was dealt the latter in the opening game of the American Legion baseball state tournament Wednesday.

Morrill got a gem of a start from Henry Curran and timely hitting while Saco-Biddeford Savings struggled to respond in a 13-2, seven inning loss at Wainwright Recreation Complex.

Curran was the area’s top pitcher during the high school season and proved that title once again Wednesday. He started strong, striking two of the first three batters of the game, then kept rolling, as he took a perfect game into the fifth before a two-out walk.

“I think any time he’s on the mound you feel pretty comfortable if we can get a couple runs early that he’s going to have our back. You could tell early he had his good stuff,” Morrill Post manager Mike Owens said of Curran. “He hasn’t thrown a ton this summer, so he was pretty fresh.”

While Curran was setting down Saco-Biddeford Savings batters left and right, Morrill hitters made it much harder for SBS starter Nate Huot to do the same.

Huot gave up a single and a walk to the first two batters in the bottom of the first, then after getting a pop up for the first out, Nick Troiano bounced a two-run single up the middle. Troiano scored two batters later when Ben Conti reached on an error.

Huot escaped damage in the second despite allowing three base runners, but wasn’t so lucky in the third. Troiano led off by flying out to right, but the next five batters reached against Huot, including a two-run single from Robert Graff. The damage could have been worse, but Huot left the bases loaded by getting an infield fly and a groundout to end the inning.

Huot lasted four innings, giving up eight hits, four earned runs, one strikeout and two walks.

“They hadn’t hit the ball super hard, but they just putting it in play, putting it in play and making things happen,” said Saco-Biddeford Savings manager Keith LeBlanc.

Kerry Crepeau took over in the fifth and struck out Brad Sowerby to start his outing. Then the Morrill bats went to work again. Drew Abramson followed with a double, then scored three batters later on Anthony Degifico’s two-run single. Jacob Brown drove in another run on an infield single to make it 8-0 Morrill Post.

“I think we have a deep lineup. We don’t necessarily have a few stars, I think we just have a really solid lineup one through nine,” said Owens. “I thought we found some gaps and took advantage of some mistakes and hit some balls hard. Any time we’re putting the ball in play and putting pressure on the other team, usually good things happen.”

Saco-Biddeford Savings finally answered offensively in the top of the sixth. Nick Gallant led off with a walk ”“ just the second base runner allowed by Curran, forcing him to pitch from the stretch. Curran then struck out Jeremy Lugiano, but gave up consecutive singles to Casey Twomey and Crepeau ”“ Saco-Biddeford Savings’ top two hitters ”“ to load the bases. Brady Crepeau lined out on a diving catch by shortstop Abramson, but Huot’s two-run single that dropped near the line foul line in left ended Curran’s shutout.

“He hadn’t pitched from the stretch yet, and when he’s pitching from the wind-up he’s very tough. From the stretch, it looked like he was a little bit more erratic,” said LeBlanc. “To get some guys on base and have him pitch from the stretch was good, but you got to do more of that.”

Curran’s outing ended after getting Joey Curit to line out to end the sixth. Curran went allowed just two runs on three hits over his six innings, while striking out nine and walking two. He retired the first 14 batters of the game, including eight by strikeout.

“He’s our ace for a reason. We roll him out game one for a reason, and he lived up to the hype today,” said Owens.

Saco-Biddeford Savings’ initial outburst was met by an even bigger one from the Morrill Post bats. The Zone 3 champions sent 10 men to the plate in the bottom of the sixth, with Sam Troiano, Degifico and Brown all collecting RBI hits. Troiano laced a two-run double to score the first two runs, then scored on a wild pitch. Degifico and Brown both knocked in runs with singles as part of Morrill Post’s 14-hit barrage in the game.

Griffin Kelley took over on the mound for Morrill in the top of the seventh and worked around a pair of errors before ending the game early by starting a game-ending double play.

“I was really impressed with the way we came out and we attacked, and we kept coming. To end the game early in these double-elimination tournaments is huge to save arms later in the tournament,” said Owens.

LeBlanc had to use three pitchers in the tournament opener, as Corey Brown faced the final four batters. But the SBS manager said he wasn’t looking too far down the road in the double-elimination tournament, as his team faces elimination today against Tri-Town of Poland.

“I think they’re just trying to play one game at a time, and don’t worry about too far ahead, just kind of worry about next game and hopefully we can put a better showing on,” said LeBlanc. “This is a competitive tournament and you got to bring your ”˜A’ game.”

— Sports Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.