St. Dominic’s Derek Wolverton gets to third base before North Yarmouth Academy’s Will Jackson catches the ball during Wednesday afternoon’s baseball game in Auburn. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)

AUBURN — Worn down recently by a virus that has swept through his team, St. Dom’s senior pitcher Mac Pelletier found the cure he needed in the Saints’ final regular-season opponent, one-win North Yarmouth Academy.

Pelletier retired the final eight batters he faced as the Saints cruised to a 12-1 victory, which was called in the middle of the fifth inning due to the 10-run mercy rule. 

Derek Wolverton and Ben Gosselin led the Saints offensively with two hits apiece. Wolverton, a freshman cleanup hitter, tripled and singled and drove in a pair of runs, while Gosselin doubled and singled and drove in three.

Pelletier allowed just two hits and two walks while striking out four. His only bad inning was the second, when he allowed a leadoff single to Jackson Linscott, uncorked a wild pitch to send him to second, then surrendered a one-out RBI single by Dan Zajkowski that tied it, 1-1.

“I’m coming off of a sickness, so I lost some velocity,” Pelletier said. “I’m going to get that back by the end of the week, for sure. It’s actually the perfect time where you get on the mound and just throw, just get out all of the kinks and get ready for the first big game.”

“He wasn’t at 100 percent today, strength-wise, but we worked on location and stuff,” St. Dom’s coach Bob Blackman said. “He’s going to get stronger for our next game. I wanted him to get at least 65 to 70 pitches, and that’s right where he came in at.”

The Saints quickly regained the lead with three runs in the bottom of the second. Gosselin had the key hit, a double over a leaping left fielder that drove in Will Laflamme. Gosselin then drew a bad throw while stealing third and scored easily to make it 4-1.

St. Dom’s broke it open with five in the third. Michael Ciley (two hits), who led off the frame with a single, scored easily on Wolverton’s triple into the right-center gap.

“I just squared one up,” Wolverton said. “I had missed a sign and went to talk to (Blackman). I thought I had to make up for it.”

“He used a wooden bat,” Blackman said. “If he’d have used a metal bat, his regular one, he’d have had an inside-the-park.”

Zach Pelletier sacrifice fly and Gosselin’s two-run single made it 9-1. Laflamme’s RBI single in the fourth ended up being the last of the Saints’ nine hits.

The Saints (11-5) ended the season winners of seven of their final eight games and earned a bye to the Class C South quarterfinals as the No. 5 seed. They will face No. 4 Traip Academy, a Western Maine Conference rival that split two games with the Saints this season.

“We were a young team to start the season, and we still are,” Pelletier said. “But just getting that experience helps a lot. I think we’re mature enough now to really pull together well for the playoffs.”

“We’re in a nice groove right now,” Wolverton said. “Since midseason, we’ve been doing well. We just need to keep it up during playoffs.”

St. Dominic’s Mac Pelletier fires the ball at North Yarmouth Academy’s Linus Maurer during Wednesday afternoon’s baseball game in Auburn. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)

North Yarmouth Academy’s Linus Maurer gets to home plate too late, after St. Dominic’s Zach Pelletier catches the ball during Wednesday afternoon’s baseball game in Auburn. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)

St. Dominic’s first baseman, Riley Volpe reacts with a smile as pitcher Mac Pelletier gets to first base for a force out of North Yarmouth Academy’s Anders Jonsson during Wednesday afternoon’s baseball game in Auburn. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)

St. Dominic’s Zach Pelletier connects with the ball during Wednesday afternoon’s baseball game in Auburn. On third base, waiting to come home is Derek Wolverton and the catcher is Michael Ciley. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)

St. Dominic’s Derek Wolverton slides home during Wednesday afternoon’s baseball game in Auburn. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)

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