AUBURN — Not many high school baseball teams knock off the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in a region to reach a state championship game.
We know Saint Dominic Academy has never done it in a baker’s dozen years of excellence under the watchful eyes of Coach Bob Blackman, because, well, the Saints are always one of those two clubs atop the bracket.
Whether or not the Saints are really a dark horse going into Saturday’s Class C final against Bucksport at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor (3 p.m.), they have played the role with award-winning flair.
No. 8 St. Dom’s (15-5) edged No. 9 Madison at home in the preliminary round before ripping through No. 1 Dirigo, No. 5 Maranacook and No. 2 Winthrop in succession.
“We’re living on borrowed time, at least seeding-wise,” Blackman said. “I think we’re battle-tested. To hold each of them down to two or three hits in all three of those games, the writing’s on the wall. It isn’t rocket science that it’s going to come down to pitching for us.”
Mitch Lorenz, who has already thrown a three-hitter to beat Madison and a two-hitter to shut out Maranacook, will climb the hill for St. Dom’s. He will be opposed by Asher Bowden of Bucksport (15-4) in a clash of senior left-handers.
The Saints have won 12 of 13 games. Subtracting the lone loss, an 11-7 verdict at Dirigo in the first start of freshman Gavin Bates’ career, they have outscored opponents 74-7 in that run.
“Our motto all playoffs is coming in as the eighth seed, we’re the team that’s expected to lose every game,” senior first baseman Caleb Labrie said. “We’re just giving everything we’ve got and playing every inning the best we can. We definitely had some shaky moments this season, but we’ve started to turn it around.”
Tradition and injuries are the unseen stories that lurk between the lines when reading the Heal Points. St. Dom’s lost ace pitcher and shortstop Mike Bryant for six games, with the exception of limited designated hitter duty, in a 3-4 start.
With the Mountain Valley Conference adopting a new schedule that didn’t allow schools to choose their two opponents for home-and-home series, St. Dom’s was assigned Boothbay and Telstar, teams that didn’t make the playoffs. The Saints’ chances to dig out of that deficit in the standings were limited.
And this is hardly St. Dom’s first spotlight dance. The Saints won the state title in four previous odd-numbered years: 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2011. They also lost in the final to George Stevens in 2004 and Searsport in 2006.
Veterans on the team knew better than to rest on those laurels.
“We’re finally going to state game our senior year,” Lorenz said. “We really couldn’t talk a lot.”
Bucksport made three previous appearances in the state game, all in Class B. The Golden Bucks lost to Maranacook in 2000 and Oak Hill in both 2003 and 2006.
They made a similar journey through the Eastern Maine bracket, albeit as the No. 1 seed, on the shoulders of senior hurlers Carter DeRedin and Bowden.
Bowden (4-1) allowed only three hits and struck out four in a 1-0 semifinal win over Washington Academy. DeRedin got the final out for the save. Bowden returned the favor in Wednesday’s regional title game, entering the game with one out in the seventh and silencing George Stevens’ rally to seal a 5-3 victory for DeRedin.
“That was part of our conference this year,” Blackman said. “We had an abundance of lefties with (Lisbon’s Tyler) Halls, (Dirigo’s Gavin) Arsenault, (Winthrop’s Ben) Allen, (Monmouth’s Nick) Sanborn. So seeing the lefty isn’t going to make a big difference.”
Bowden (two-run triple) and DeRedin (RBI single) also led Bucksport’s four-run outburst in the bottom of the fifth inning against George Stevens.
Dylan Soper, Chase Carmichael, Matt Stewart, Hayden Craig and Jack Cyr have made contributions throughout the playoffs for the Golden Bucks.
“They’re a good team from what I see. The scouting report I got on Maranacook, which was offense, offense, offense, Bucksport’s got all of that,” Blackman said. “We’re going to have our hands full. Every game you see it. It’s the same names, but there are two or three other guys filtered in every single game.”
St. Dom’s also has reaped timely top-to-bottom contributions throughout its lineup in the postseason. Ray Mosca and Justin Keaney dropped crucial bunts leading to key runs in the early rounds. Bryant, Lorenz, Labrie and Bates comprise a potent heart of the order.
By giving Lorenz (7-5) the ball, the Saints also will have their best defensive alignment in the field, with Bates behind the plate, Bryant at shortstop and Mosca in center. St. Dom’s overcame four errors and six runners left on third base to beat Winthrop, 5-1, on the strength of Bryant’s two-hitter in the West final.
“Even though we had all those opportunities throughout the game, we took advantage of them when they counted,” Lorenz said. “We didn’t let it get to us. We just kept on doing what we do.”
St. Dom’s exploded for four runs to break a 1-1 tie in the top of the seventh.
The Saints trailed both Dirigo and Winthrop before big-inning rallies spelled the difference.
”Once it started to roll downhill like that, it wasn’t going to stop. You could just feel it,” Blackman said. “It was a microcosm of our whole season, because our pitching kept us in it and gave us a chance to win it.
“That’s a great ingredient. On the downside, from everything I read and hear, Bucksport is the same way.”
Another top seed, awaiting the unlikeliest and scariest of underdogs.
koakes@sunjournal.com
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