It hasn’t been the start to the American Legion season that the New England Frozen Lemonade/Shields Post 43 team was looking for, and Tuesday’s doubleheader wasn’t the performance the team was looking for either.

That said, NEFL is currently in the midst of its winningest stretch of the summer, even if it hasn’t been perfect. It split with West Warwick Post Two Tuesday, erasing a five-run deficit in game one only to lose 9-7 before rebounding with a 6-4 win in game two.

The 1-1 day gave NEFL three wins in its last four games, as it was coming off a doubleheader sweep of Hurd Auto Mall-Post 64 last Tuesday. At 4-5 overall, NEFL is in 10th place in the 12-team league, yet still has the time – and the talent – to climb the standings over the next few weeks.

“Overall, we can definitely perform a lot better,” said NEFL assistant coach Francisco Velasquez. “But we’re happy to win game two.”

In two games, NEFL showcased its ups and down. It fell behind early in the first game, as West Warwick hit starter James Meizoso and took a 6-1 lead in the third inning.

It upped its lead to 7-1 by the fourth and the game looked all but over, until NEFL woke up in the fifth. It scored six times, thank to three West Warwick walks, an error, and hits by Elijah Brown, Ryan Rotondo and Ben Mann. Just like that, the game was tied.

“First game was kind of dissatisfying,” Meizoso said. “We didn’t get out of the hole until we had bases loaded and started to hit.”

West Warwick spoiled the comeback, however, grabbing two runs in the bottom of the sixth and shutting down NEFL in the seventh to hold on for the win.

The loss put the pressure on NEFL to avoid a sweep, and the sense of urgency showed at the plate in the first two innings of game two.

Facing West Warwick’s Jake Moss, T.J. Boyajian walked to open the game, Brown singled and Rotondo brought home Boyajian with a single. Brown then came around on a single by Austin Lamaire, making it 2-0 just four batters into the game.

Later in the inning, Meizoso lifted a sacrifice fly, giving NEFL the early 3-0 lead.

“After the first game we were down, but we weren’t that down,” said pitcher Shane Kittila, who threw 1.2 innings in game two. “We knew we had to come play the second game. We were all ready to go.”

Elijah Dressel got the start on the mound for NEFL and worked through the first two innings unscathed, facing just one batter over the minimum. Still, it wasn’t all easy, as West Warwick ran into two outs on the bases, with NEFL catcher Tyler DePetrillo throwing out Pete Goretoy trying to steal in the first and Dressel picking off a runner on second base when West Warwick had runners on second and third with two outs.

That was a sign of things to come, as West Warwick stranded 13 runners, unable to come up with a big hit in seemingly every inning.

“We trust our players, and they know that we play hard through every situation,” Velasquez said. “We know that they’re going to go out there and do what they can to win.”

In the third, West Warwick finally got on the board on an RBI infield single by Nolan Cooney, after Dressel walked the bases loaded. But Dressel buckled down and left the bases loaded when he struck out Steve Gallagher on a 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded.

The next inning it was a similar story, as Dressel walked a batter and allowed a single before Anthony Indeglia’s single brought home West Warwick’s second run. But with the bases loaded and one out, Dressel struck out consecutive batters to get out of the jam.

“We are a very pitcher strong team,” Velasquez said. “Our pitching is probably one of our strengths. We can call on any one of those guys to step up.”

NEFL grabbed a pair of runs in the fourth inning against Moss, as Boyajian walked ahead of a Brown RBI triple. Rotondo then scored Brown with a sacrifice fly.

That was it for NEFL’s scoring, though, as West Warwick kept trying to erase the deficit. In the fifth, it got a run back on an RBI single by Evan Barrera with one out, ending the night for Dressel after 4.1 innings. Kittila came on with two on and one out, struck out the first man he saw and then induced a fly-out to retire the side.

“Just throw strikes and try not to let a run score,” Kittila said of his mindset.

With Kittila still on the mound in the sixth, West Warwick loaded the bases with one out on an error and two walks. An error on a pick-off throw by DePetrillo made it 6-4, and suddenly West Warwick had the tying runs in scoring position with one out.

Kittila buckled down, however, striking out Tyler Boisclair and getting a pop-up from Barrera.

“We keep our head up and we fight like tigers,” Velasquez said. “We play hard.”

Three outs away from the win, NEFL brought on Meizoso to pitch the seventh. He retired the first batter on a groundout to third baseman Alex Lefebvre, then allowed a double to Nick Merritt to bring the tying run to the plate. But, as NEFL pitchers had done all night, he rose to the occasion, getting a groundout and a lineout to end the game.

“When Jimmy went out there I had no doubt that he was going to do his best and perform,” Velasquez said.

NEFL was scheduled to be back in action Wednesday with a doubleheader against Providence Post 56, with the results unavailable at press time.

It also has a doubleheader on Saturday against Collette Vacations-Post 79 at Pierce Field, beginning at 10 a.m. Sunday, it will play another doubleheader against South Kingstown Post 39 at Old Mountain Field, beginning at 12:30 p.m.

Once those games are in the books, NEFL will have just seven games left in the regular season to make a playoff push.

“We realize that we have to come to play every day,” Meizoso said.