MIDDLEBURY — A rough weekend saw the Addison County American Legion baseball team fall below .500 at 6-8.

AC dropped doubleheaders on Saturday to South Burlington, 6-1 and 1-0, and on Sunday to St. Johnsbury, 6-2 and 7-6.

AC’s Tuesday home game vs. St. Johnsbury was called off due to thunderstorms and has been rescheduled to July 24.

AC is currently sixth in the eight-team Northern Division after the four setbacks. The top four teams from both the Northern and Southern divisions make the double elimination playoffs, which will begin on July 27. Castleton University and Mount St. Joseph Academy in Rutland will host the tournament.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Northern Division standings were: 1. South Burlington, 10-2; 2. St. J, 9-4; 3. Essex, 8-4; 4. Colchester and Montpelier, each 6-6; 6. AC, 6-8; 7. Franklin County, 4-8; and 8. Champlain, 1-12.

In its push for the postseason, AC is scheduled to host Colchester on Thursday and Champlain on Friday, visit Essex on Saturday at noon for a doubleheader, and host Franklin next Wednesday before Thursday’s St. J makeup game. All weekday home games begin at 5:30 p.m. at AC’s home field at Middlebury Union High School.

RESULTS

The local nine had started this month’s play with a 5-4 home victory on July 2 over defending state champion Essex, scoring the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh. Essex had been undefeated until running into AC that Tuesday.

Carter Paquette scored the decisive run after leading off with his second hit of the game. After Eyon Tembreull reached on an error and Ryan Brouillard walked, Paquette raced home from third with the winning run on a wild pitch. Tembreull earned the complete-game pitching win, allowing four runs, two earned, on eight hits, walking none and fanning five.

That win pushed AC to 4-2. Then AC lost at Franklin County on July 6, 8-0; defeated visiting Montpelier on July 7, 8-5; and split two games with Colchester on July 8 and 9, losing at home to the Cannons on the 8th, 5-4, and winning at Colchester on the 9th, 9-4.

In the 5-4 loss to Colchester the Cannons erupted for all five runs on four hits off Tembreull in the top of the fifth to take a 5-1 lead. Only two of the runs were earned. Paquette led the AC attack with three hits and two RBIs. Tembreull and Brouillard (two hits) also knocked in runs, and Alex Sperry scored twice. AC lost despite outhitting Colchester by 11-5.

AC bounced back at Colchester the next day by scoring eight runs in the sixth inning in the 9-2 victory. In the big inning Tucker Morter doubled in a run, Tyler Kimball doubled home two runs, Brouillard (three hits) singled in a run, Cole Warren plated two runs with a single, and Tembreull and Morter drew bases-loaded walks. Earlier, Sperry drove in AC’s first run with a sacrifice fly. Brody Barnard started the game and pitched well, and Brouillard earned the win in relief.

Then came this past weekend, which opened on Saturday with a 1-0, eight-inning loss at South Burlington in the first game of a twin bill in which several SB hurlers combined to keep AC in check. Liam O’Connor stroked the game-winning RBI single for SB in the bottom of the eighth. Kimball started on the mound for AC and tossed 6.2 scoreless innings, fanning four and walking five.

SB rolled in the nightcap, 6-1, banging out 12 hits off Tembreull, who allowed six runs, five earned, in six innings. Cedric Lamothe tossed a complete-game two-hitter for SB, and AC’s run was unearned. Sperry and Paquette poked the AC hits.

AC’s offensive woes continued in Sunday’s first game at St. J, a 6-2 loss in which AC managed just three hits, by Paquette, Tembreull and Kimball. AC scored both of its runs in the top of the seventh. Sperry walked and Paquette singled. Tembreull doubled the first run home, and Brouillard picked up the second RBI while making an out.

Tucker Wright started and gave up four runs in four innings. He allowed four hits and five walks and struck out three. Barnard tossed the final three innings and allowed two runs, one earned, three hits and four walks, while fanning two.

St. J won the nightcap, 7-6, when Wyatt Mason erased a 6-4 AC lead with a walk-off, two-out, three-run homer off Brouillard in the bottom of the seventh.

AC had snapped a 4-4 tie in the top of the inning with two runs on Paquette’s RBI single and Tembreull’s RBI triple.

Morter started for AC and went 6.2 innings, allowing four runs on four hits and three walks while striking out five. But Brouillard, who has been solid in all phases of the game for AC, walked two batters before surrendering the winning blast.

On offense, Sperry had two hits, two runs and an RBI; Warren stroked two hits and scored a run; Paquette scored twice and had the RBI hit; and Tembreull finished with two hits and three RBIs.