By ERIC BENEVIDES

Sports writer

NORTH KINGSTOWN — Collette Vacations Post 79 couldn’t hold off this comeback.
Owners of a four-run lead after 6½ innings of play, Post 79 fell prey to a pair of three-run rallies by Shoreline Post 12 and came out on the losing end of a wild 12-10 slugfest in the second game of their best-of-three, first-round series on Monday night at Lischio Field.
Collette, which staved off a late uprising by Shoreline in their series opener on Saturday and recorded an equally-entertaining 9-8 win at Macomber Stadium, will host the rubber game tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Max Read Field.     

“I think we’re pretty even teams,” said Post 79 manager Jim Mello. “They’re really not a (No.) 12 seed and we’re probably not a (No.) 5 seed, but I think any of the top 12 (teams) in the state can win it.
“If we don’t win tomorrow, the season’s over, but I don’t think we’re ready to pack in it for the summer yet, so hopefully, we’ll come out fighting.”
Collette will come out fighting with veteran starter Derek Nesbitt getting the ball. He is expected to be opposed by Shoreline’s Jay Ferri, who was the third baseman in Monday’s game.
“We’ll be as good and as competitive as Derek is,” said Mello. “If he goes out and gives us a good start, we’ll be in the game, but if he doesn’t, then we’ll be fighting for our lives again.
“But we have confidence in him. He’s 19, he’s been through the battles, and he’s pitched in the playoffs in the three years he’s been here. He’ll be ready to go.”
With playoff games going nine innings instead of seven, Mello will hope Nesbitt can give him more than four innings -- unlike his starters in the last two contests. Monday night’s pitcher, Chris Hall, was only able to last three innings before exiting the game with Post 12 on top by a 6-2 score.
Post 79 got back a run in the fourth on a run-scoring double by Jeff Sousa, and after both teams were kept off the board in the fifth, Collette exploded for five runs in the sixth and knocked Shoreline starter Mark Medeiros out of the game.
Medeiros was unable to retire any of the five batters he faced. Kyle Borden led off with a single to center, and after John Robbins reached base on an outfield miscue (right fielder Cody Normand overran a fly ball near the right-field line), Matt Nassi laced a double to left that one-hopped the fence to drive in both runners.
After Nick Gaj followed with a carbon-copy double of Nassi’s hit to drive in Nassi with the tying tun, Sousa had an infield grounder misplayed for a miscue.
Medeiros was lifted in favor of Dave D’Errico, who struck out the next batter he faced, but quickly surrendered a two-run single to center by Zack McClelland that gave Post 79 the lead and a surge of momentum.
The lead grew to 10-6 in the seventh on back-to-back sacrifice flies to center by Robbins and Nassi, but Shoreline refused to call it an early night.
Collette reliever Jeremy Thurber silenced the hosts on two hits from the fourth through the sixth innings, but with one out in the seventh, he hit Mike Depasquale with a pitch, and with two gone, he gave up a single to
See LEGION — Page B-3
right by Eddie Apice and a three-run homer to left by Dave Boulter that made it a one-run game.
In the eighth, Mello brought in his closer, Borden, to protect his team’s one-run edge and punch Collette’s ticket to the quarterfinals, but Borden quickly ran into trouble.
He gave up an infield single to D’Errico, plunked Ryan Morris with a pitch, and yielded a ground single to left by Brown to load the bases for Ferri.
Post 79 brought the infield in, but Ferri responded with a bloop single into shallow center to drive in two runs and give Shoreline the lead for good.
After an infield throwing error reloaded the bags, Borden came back to strike out the next batter, but proceeded to walk Apice and force in a run.
Borden again bounced back and left the bases loaded by setting down the next two batters he faced, but the damage was already done.
Both teams were forced to continue their game from Sunday, which was halted in the top of the second with Post 79 owning a 1-0 lead, a runner on second with no outs, and Gaj at the plate with a 1-2 count.
Collette doubled its lead in that inning, but Shoreline answered back with four runs in the bottom of the second and two more in the third. Austin Brown unloaded a two-run homer to left to highlight the second-inning rally. 
Both teams finished the game with a dozen hits and four errors that led to three unearned runs. Six of Collette’s hits were doubles, and Gaj was the visitors’ only player with three hits.
**
Collette Vacations 110 105 200—10-12-4
Shoreline-N.K.  042 000 33x—12-12-4
Chris Hall, Jeremy Thurber (4), Kyle Borden (8) and John Robbins; Mark Medeiros, Dave D’Errico (6) and Austin Brown. HR – Austin Brown (S), Dave Boulter (S).