Bessey Motors opened up on Turner with an 11-hit attack and dispatched the Turner Bandits with a 12-1 victory in the American Legion baseball state tournament in Bangor on Monday night.

Turner, which was eliminated with the loss, had five hits and two errors for the evening. Bessey goes on to play the winner of the Augusta-Bangor game (which will be played earlier in the day) Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

Bessey first baseman Cade Truman led the charge at the plate, going 3-for-5, driving in three runs and scoring three.

“We hit the ball well today,” Bessey coach Shane Slicer said. “We have been leaving guys in scoring position. Today, we had some timely hits. We got guys on base. We were pretty disciplined at the plate, hit the ball where they weren’t.

“(Truman) had a very good day. He was our best hitter today.”

Eli Soehren and Brady Truman each belted a pair of hits and drove in two runs. Hunter Tardiff had a hit and drove in two runs and left fielder Matt Doucette had two hits.

Winning pitcher Ethan Cutler went six innings before Kolby Brown came in to throw a perfect seventh inning.

“Cutler pitched well,” Slicer said. “He went six innings, 73 pitches. Cutler and Cade were the highlights of our team today.”

There weren’t many highlights on the other side of the diamond.

“It got off to a rough start,” Turner assistant coach Ryan Palmer said. “(Losing pitcher) Matt (Wallingford) threw 34 pitches the first inning. We had two errors that led to three runs (in the first inning). It stayed 3-0 until the fifth and (Bessey) got a few more … and the flood gates pretty much opened up in the fifth, sixth and seventh inning.”

Palmer said the team was short on pitching and Bessey “teed off on our relievers.”

Bessey erupted with four runs in the top of the seventh — after plating two in the fifth and three in the sixth — to put the game well out of Turner’s reach. Turner got its lone run in the fifth when Connor DeCoster led off with a single and eventually scored on Jayden Ruel’s groundout.

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