LEWISTON — It wasn’t so much a pitchers duel as a battle of wills.

Top-seeded Lewiston and starter Corbin Hyde ultimately won, 2-1, thanks to Scott Ouellette’s sixth inning sacrifice fly. But the Blue Devils got all they could handle from No. 8 Hampden Academy and their poised starter, Connor Perry, in Friday’s Eastern Class A baseball quarterfinal.

The Blue Devils (16-1), winners of 12 straight, will host No. 5 Brunswick in the semifinals at 1 p.m. Saturday.

“People think I’m blowing smoke, but come playoff time, doesn’t matter if it’s the spring or the summer, every team that you play is good and they have a good No. 1 pitcher or else they wouldn’t have made it,” Lewiston coach Todd Cifelli said. “I give them a ton of credit for coming down as the No. 8 seed, multiple trips, the thunderstorm, going through graduation and they played their butts off. So did we. We were fortunate that we executed a little bit at the end.”

The game was originally scheduled for Thursday but was postponed after a half inning due to the severe thunderstorms that moved through the area. Hyde threw that half inning, setting the Broncos down 1-2-3, but had to start all over again under the hot sun Friday.

Hyde, who hadn’t pitched anything but that half-inning since a win over Brewer on May 31,  surrendered just three hits but walked five while striking out five. He battled out of a bases loaded, one out jam in the fourth and escaped unscathed after walking the first two batters in the sixth.

“I just really dug down deep,” said Hyde, a junior southpaw who improved to 6-0 on the season. “I actually felt better in those situations. I felt more into the game. I had to focus on getting over the top and getting the ball over the plate for strikes, letting them hit the ball and not trying to overpower them.”

If it was possible, Perry seemed to thrive even more in the tight spots. He surrendered 11 hits and walked three, but he stranded 11 Blue Devils on the bases, leaving multiple runners on in the second, third, fourth and fifth.

“He pitched one heck of a game. I’ve had it from him all year,” Hampden coach McLean Poulin said. “We’re just on the wrong side of a great ball game.”

“We had never seen him before,” Cifelli said. “The scouting report that I heard, which was correct, was he’s a pitcher, not just a thrower. We haven’t hit since the Bangor game (in last Saturday’s KVAC championship)… and at the end of the day, we had 11 hits, but we didn’t get the timely hit.”

The two teams matched timely hits in the third. Cooper Antone laced a two-out single to give the Broncos (8-9) a 1-0 lead.

After leaving the bases loaded in the second, Lewiston got singles from Ouellette and Mekae Hyde to start the bottom of the third. It looked like they’d come away empty-handed again when Corbin Hyde lined to third baseman Matt Palmer, who was able to double-up Hyde at second. But Jeff Keene kept the inning alive with a single and Ben Wigant (two hits) singled to drive Mekae Hyde in and tie the game.

Corbin Hyde got some help from his brother to preserve the tie in the fourth. Cody Miller led off with a walk. Mekae pounced on a pitch from Corbin in the dirt and saw Miller hung up between first and second. The senior catcher fired to first before the runner could retreat.

That first out proved big, because the next two Broncos reached via a walk and single. Corbin Hyde then fielded a bunt by Perry and had just one play, to third, but the throw was high and wide. Ouellette jumped and stopped it with his bare hand to keep the runner from scoring, and Hyde left the bases loaded by striking out Logan Poirier on a curve and getting Logan Stewart to ground out to second.

“We saw that (Hyde) wasn’t locating the way I know he can,” Poulin said. “I told our guys we’ve got to make him work, and they did a great job of it. Unfortunately, we have the bases loaded, one out and we don’t push the run home. We have a stupid baserunning mistake here and there and those always end up biting you, especially in a game like this.”

Chris Madden led off the Lewiston fourth with a single, but Perry made a nice play to throw out Madden at second on Tucker Beaudoin’s bunt attempt. That rendered Ouellette’s two-out single harmless after Perry got Mekae Hyde to fly out.

“That was kind of frustrating, especially going that deep into the game and being that close,” said Ouellette, who had two hits. “It was a real nail-biter.”

The Devils got two on with one out in the fifth, only to have Perry shut them down again. In the sixth, Beaudoin led off with a walk. Luke Cote bunted pinch runner Nate Berube to second. Perry’s only wild pitch of the game moved Berube to third.

Ouellette then lifted a 1-1 pitch in the air. Center fielder Nick Rodgerson took several step in to shallow center to catch the ball. First baseman Fred Knight cut off the throw behind the mound and relayed it home, but Berube slid in a second before the ball arrived.

“He was going, no matter what,” Cifelli said of Berube.

“I’m not really shy. I just hit the ball,” Ouellette said. “I just hoped it went far enough for Nate to tag up. “

Joe Sullivan picked up the save with a perfect seventh.

Lewiston beat Brunswick twice this season, 8-2 and 6-1. The Dragons edged No. 4 Mt. Blue, 5-4, in eight innings to advance to the semifinals.

Ouellette said the Devils will be taking nothing for granted.

“I’m sure (playing in a tight quarterfinal) gives us a lot more momentum going into (Saturday) than if we blew out the first team we played,” he said. “I think it gives us the mindset that anyone can beat anyone.”

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