Heavy rain and lightning have wreaked havoc on the first couple weeks of the American Legion baseball season, but the storms held off for a couple hours last Thursday in Cumberland to allow Libby-Mitchell Post 76 and Cumberland to get in their Zone 4 game.

Libby-Mitchell, with players from Scarborough and Bonny Eagle High School, held a one-run lead for most of the game thanks to back-to-back solo home runs from Jake Rutt and Casey McKague, but Cumberland rallied in the bottom of the seventh inning to pull out a 3-2 win.

Cumberland jumped on top in the first inning when Sam Stauber singled, stole second and scored on Nate Martin’s RBI single.

Libby-Mitchell responded in the top of the second as Rutt, the cleanup hitter, crushed a ball over the fence in right. McKague followed with a deep drive over the wall in left to make it 2-1.

Libby-Mitchell starter Brian Moskevich settled in after the first, allowing only one hit, two walks and one hit batter before being relieved by Chris Bernard with two outs in the sixth inning. Bernard induced a groundout by the first batter he faced to get out of the sixth.

After allowing the two homers, Cumberland pitcher Brian Gallagher was able to settle in as well. He did not allow any other hits and struck out eight. Libby-Mitchell loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth after three straight walks, but Gallagher got Moskevich to fly out to left to end the threat.

In the bottom of the seventh, Cumberland’s Nate Mecray led off by legging out an infield hit. A sacrifice bunt by Adam Norton moved him into scoring position at second. Robb Arndt’s line drive double down the left-field line scored Mecray to tie the score. Gallagher, the next batter, singled to center to score Arndt for the walk-off win.

Bernard, who struck out three in an impressive inning of work earlier in the day at the Maine High School Underclass All-Star Game in Gorham, took the loss, which dropped Libby-Mitchell to 2-2.

Libby-Mitchell started the game with nine players. One of them, Joe Davis, was nursing an injured leg that did not allow him to run. Needing to have nine in the lineup, Davis batted at the bottom of the order and did not swing, striking out on four pitches in his only trip to the plate. In the field, he stood close to the right field line, leaving the other two outfielders to patrol three positions. Ian Ramsdell arrived in the fourth inning and substituted in for Davis.

The American Legion season runs from June 19 to July 19, with teams playing two or three games during the week and double-headers on the weekends. The Zone 4 tournament is slated to begin on July 22, with the state tournament scheduled to start on August 2.

For American Legion schedules, visit http://mysite.verizon.net/vzevby6u/mainelegionbaseball/