STANDISH — Prior to Maine’s ongoing population shift, Searsport was a Class C East baseball power, winning seven regional championships.
It didn’t take the Vikings long to catch on in Class D West. In only its second season since being reclassified, No. 2 Searsport scored six runs in the top of the third inning Tuesday night and cruised to the title over No. 1 Richmond, 13-3, in five innings at Mahaney Diamond.
Searsport (15-4) will face Stearns in Saturday’s state final. The teams split a regular-season doubleheader. Two of the Vikings’ other three losses were to Bucksport, the top-ranked team in the Class C East playoffs.
Junior right-hander Troy Reynolds allowed only one hit, an infield single by Tyler Soucy, and struck out eight to counter eight walks. Reynolds has thrown two no-hitters and three one-hitters and allowed only one earned run prior to Tuesday.
“It’s just tough to settle in sometimes. Obviously it was a really big game with big implications, so I just had to bear down and do it,” Reynolds said. “I was never afraid of losing. I’m not trying to sound cocky, but I’m confident in our team, even if we make a few errors.”
Mitchell Philbrook, Liam MacMillan and Connor Kneeland each had two hits and combined for five RBIs for Searsport, which last won a regional when it captured three consecutive Class C East crowns from 2006 to 2008. Every Vikings starter notched either a hit or an RBI.
Richmond (15-4) used its No. 1 and 2 pitchers, Mike Stewart and Zach Small, for more than three innings apiece in a semifinal win over Greenville, making them ineligible to throw Tuesday.
“We tried to piece together our staff. We had trouble finding the plate a little bit, and when we found the plate, they whacked it,” Richmond coach Ryan Gardner said. “Maybe our youth and inexperience showed. I don’t think we were sharp mentally today.”
Already up a pair, Searsport sent 10 men to the plate against Brendan Emmons to break it open in the third.
Jay Burkard led off with another infield single. Kyle Moore and Philbrook followed with consecutive hits to left field, the latter driving home Burkard.
“We talked on the bus ride about coming out at the beginning and getting on their No. 3 pitcher hard and scoring some runs,” Searsport coach John Frye said.
With one out, MacMillan legged out a squib in front of the plate to load the bases. The big hits came with two down — a 2-run single by freshman Kneeland and a 3-run triple from sophomore catcher Barrett Grant.
Richmond rallied with three on the strength of one hit in the bottom of the inning. Reynolds, who weaved a shutout streak of 44 innings to start the season, walked the bases loaded with one out before Soucy beat out a hit to plate Curtis Anderson.
The Vikings booted Small’s groundball and walked Cam Emmons to push home two additional runs. Reynolds struck out designated hitter Bailey Johansen looking to leave the bases jammed.
“There’s been games all season long where (Reynolds) had 15 strikeouts and they don’t have to field for him,” Frye said, “so it’s hard for our fielders to sit back. Sometimes they’re not on their toes as they should be. Very seldom do teams even put the ball in play.”
Searsport stacked up five more runs in the fourth against relievers Anderson and Cam Emmons in the fourth for a 13-3 margin. Anderson departed without recording an out.
MacMillan had the only RBI single in a frame marred by five walks and an error. Richmond ended the inning with a double play to avert further disaster.
“We couldn’t find the plate. That was the problem today.” Gardner said. “Then it deflates you when you almost have something and the ball falls in and two more runs come in.”
Searsport surged to a 2-0 lead out of the gate without hitting the ball out of the infield.
Grant drew a leadoff walk, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Moore reached on a throwing error to put runners at the corners, setting up the first run on Philbrook’s infield single.
Moore scored when Richmond mishandled Reynolds’ grounder.
Brendan Emmons briefly settled into a groove after that, striking out the side in the first and second frames, the last six consecutively.
“These guys knew if they could put the ball in play, they might make mistakes,” Frye said. “We talked about it again after the second, and we came out with that big inning.”
Reynolds backed up his pitching performance with a double at the dish.
Searsport lost 2-0 to Buckfield in the 2014 regional semifinals. The Vikings avenged that loss, 3-2, on Saturday to get to the final.
koakes@sunjournal.com
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