WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — What was shaping up to be a highly disappointing day for the White River Junction Post 84 American Legion baseball team turned quite exciting late, as WRJ rallied from a six-run deficit, then coughed up a late lead before pulling out a 10-9, extra-inning victory to split a doubleheader against Bennington Post 13 at Maxfield Sports Complex on Saturday afternoon.

Bennington had won the first game, 6-4, in which Post 84 was unable to hang on after building a three-run cushion.

“Going into it, I needed a split, big time,” WRJ coach Dylan Spencer said. “We lost a close one in the first game, and it didn’t really look good there for awhile. I told the boys once we got down 6-0 in the fourth inning (of the nightcap) that we could either put our tail between our legs and walk home right now, or we could claw, fight, put up some runs, put some pressure on them and try to find a way to come out with a win. Luckily, that’s what we did.”

Ethan Belvin got the start for Post 84 (6-4) in the opener and settled down after giving up three hits and a run in the first inning. He also contributed with an RBI single in the second, helping WRJ build a 4-1 lead.

But the fifth was a defensive disaster for the hosts as WRJ made two errors and looked sluggish and lethargic overall in the heat and humidity. Bennington plated four runs in the inning to take the lead for good.

Post 84 also missed plenty of scoring chances, leaving the bases loaded in both the first and the third.

“I had to get on their (tails) a little bit,” Spencer said. “It seems like I’m one of the most vocal people (with) the team, and with a group of 18, that shouldn’t be the case. Your coach shouldn’t have to tell you to provide more energy in the dugout and cheer for your teammates.”

Wyatt Cadwell, a rising junior at White River Valley, started the second game and was bailed out early by strong defense. Center fielder Nate Clark and second baseman Christian Hathorn combined to cut down a runner at the plate in the first inning, and Bennington ran itself into multiple outs on the base paths in the second. But Post 13 (4-3) broke through for a run in the third, then exploded for five more in the fourth, aided by two errors and a passed ball.

WRJ began chipping away in the bottom of the inning, perhaps inspired by Spencer’s words.

Hathorn, a rising Hartford High senior, doubled with one out and scored Post 84’s first run on a single by Cam Bradford. WRJ grabbed another run in the fifth on Belvin’s RBI single.

Hathorn then started WRJ’s big rally in the sixth with a leadoff single. Justin Robinson, coming off a state title as a junior at Thetford Academy, knocked in a pair of runs with a double, and a single by Hartford’s Zach Johnson drove in the go-ahead tally.

Johnson — who played in a travel ball game in Massachusetts on Saturday morning and arrived at Maxfield toward the end of the first game — later scored on another RBI single by Belvin to make it a six-run inning and put Post 84 ahead 8-6.

“We just kept stringing along a couple hits, and the runs started adding up,” Hathorn said. “We finally were able to see clearly that we could still win this game.”

Following two innings of scoreless relief from Tommy Mangieri, WRJ turned to Clark to close it out, but he allowed back-to-back run-scoring singles with two outs in the seventh, tying the game. Post 84 left runners in scoring position in both the seventh and eighth, and Bennington took the lead in the top of the ninth with a run against Johnson in his second inning on the mound.

But WRJ rallied one last time, with Hathorn and Bradford each singling to start the bottom of the ninth and a throwing error moving both into scoring position. Clark’s sacrifice fly scored Hathorn with the tying run, and after Bradford advanced to third on a balk, Robinson’s ground ball got past the Bennington first baseman, sending Bradford home to end the game.

Post 84 remained in second place in the Southern Vermont Legion Division, in position to make it to the state tournament after missing out by the slimmest of margins last year. WRJ is right back in action Sunday with a trip to Manchester.

“We persevered,” Spencer said. “It’s been up and down like that. We’ve lost some bad games; we’ve won some really good games. I’m going to take the good with the bad, and hopefully by the end of the season, we’ll be in a good spot.”

Benjamin Rosenberg can be reached at brosenberg@vnews.com or 603-727-3302.