BRISTOL, Conn. — The usually solid defense of the Scarborough Little League team broke down at a most inopportune time Tuesday.

Fairfield American took advantage of three Scarborough errors to score five runs in the bottom of the third inning and five miscues overall to eliminate the Maine state champions 8-2 at Breen Field.

Scarborough, which was playing its third game in as many days, finished 13-3, including a 1-2 mark in the regionals.

“I don’t think we’ve had that many errors in the tournament, never mind one game,” Scarborough Manager Corey Frink said. “Take that one inning away, and we’ve got a ballgame. We’ve got a 3-2 ballgame. We told them to pretend that inning isn’t there and look at the scoreboard like it’s 3-2.

“It’s tough because they wanted this badly. We came out of the gate right after them, got ahead in the first inning. I’m a little emotional right now with the end of Little League and them all moving on.”

Ryan McIntosh delivered the key hit in the third, a two-run triple that staked Fairfield American to a 6-2 lead.

Fairfield American will face New Bedford, New Hampshire, a 14-4 winner over Brattleboro, Vermont, earlier Tuesday, in another elimination game on Thursday.

Fairfield American and Scarborough actually bunked next to each other in the dormitory during the tournament.

“Besides waking us up at 6:30 on Sunday, they’ve been great neighbors,” Fairfield American Manager Brian Grady said. “They fought and hit the ball pretty well. A few errors did hurt them.”

Still, Scarborough took advantage of an error, two walks and two wild pitches to score two quick runs in the top of the first

Scarborough had only one hit in the inning, an RBI single by Sam Clark. Shortstop T.J. Liponis’ infield single appeared to make it 3-0 but the hit was overturned when the umpires ruled the ball hit off Clark’s foot, making it a foul ball.

Three Fairfield American pitchers – Matt Longo (three innings), Michael Iannazzo (21/3 innings) and Matthew Sawyer (2/3 of an inning) – combined to allow only four hits.

“The biggest thing is not how this ended, it’s where they ended,” Frink said. “They’ve had three years of district championships and state championships and here. They ended at regionals. It didn’t end in the regular season.

“It didn’t end in the town across from them. It didn’t end two hours north in the same state. It ended in another state. That’s a huge accomplishment.”

Fairfield American got back a run in the bottom of the first as Iannazzo doubled and scored on Sawyer’s groundout.

Scarborough missed a chance to add to its lead in the third, leaving runners on first and second after Clark, who was 2 for 3, doubled with two outs.

Maine starter Nic Frink retired the first batter in the bottom of the inning but the next seven hitters reached safely, making all five runs in the inning unearned.

Ben Gaffney led off the fourth with a solo homer to make it 7-2 and Fairfield American added another unearned run in the fifth, its sixth of the game.