“That’s not your typical nine seed. This wasn’t your typical one-nine game,” Monmouth coach Eric Palleschi said. “This was perfect for us. And we knew it was going be this type of battle.”

The Mustangs (17-0) hadn’t played in a week, since a loss to St. Dominic Academy in the exhibition MVC championship game. They received a first-round bye from the preliminary round, while the Cougars (11-7) had to beat No. 8 Old Orchard Beach on the road Tuesday to get to Thursday’s quarterfinal.

A good start turned not-so-good for Monmouth starting pitcher Nick Sanborn, who struck out leadoff batter Gavin Arsenault on a 3-2 pitch, but the third strike got away from catcher Nick Dovinsky, allowing Arsenault to reach base.

Sanborn struck out each of the next two batters, but Arsenault countered by stealing a pair of bases to make it to third.

Cooper Chiasson gave Arsenault a chance to score by putting a ball in play, but Monmouth shortstop took that chance away by diving to stop Chiasson’s grounder up the middle, got to his feet and fired to first for the third out.

“That’s not something you typically see at this level,” Palleschi said. “That was quite a play.”

Dirigo starter Mason Corriveau also allowed the leadoff batter on, with Gage Cote opening the bottom of the first by reaching on an error off his bunt attempt. The Mustangs were able to take advantage of the base runner, with Cote stealing second, moving to third on Dovinsky’s sacrifice grounder, then scoring on Richardson’s RBI single up the middle. Richardson later scored on Chandler Harris’ single to short.

“Those were huge,” Sanborn said. “It’s just like a big cushion.”

“We knew we had to score early,” Palleschi added. “We knew if we could get a couple runs early it would kind of take a little bit of that pressure off.”

Dirigo coach Ryan Palmer could only lament about his team’s two errors in the frame.

“They were two runs that could have been prevented, and you’re looking at a 0-0 ballgame.”

Those two runs loomed large as the game trudged on. Sanborn continued on with his strikeouts, totalling 11 in six-plus innings, but Corriveau kept the Mustang offense quiet as well.

“I can’t say enough about Mason Corriveau. He had one inning pitched all year and we decided to go with him, and he threw a (heck) of a game,” Palmer said. He’s a very, very smart, smart baseball player, and he knows the game very, very well. We knew he wouldn’t be rattled today. We’re the nine seed playing the one seed, but we knew Mason could handle it.”

Corriveau gave up a pair of hits in the second, but struck out Dovinsky looking to get out of that jam. He stranded runners at second on a walk and a hit batter in the third and fourth, respectively, and threw the only 1-2-3 inning by either pitcher in the fifth to keep it 2-0.

“That kid kept us off balance,” Palleschi said of Corriveau, who gave up just one earned run on six hits in six innings. “He did a great job out there on the mound.”

The only thing that dulled Sanborn’s dominance was Dirigo’s patience at the plate. The senior left-hander walked three batters and hit another, and six times Cougar hitters drew the count full. But even when the Dirigo bats got on base Sanborn kept them from getting to home.

“I just knew that I had either throw strikes, let them hit it or they’d come back and win,” Sanborn said. “I just had to throw strikes, that was the most important thing.”

Dirigo got runners to second in the second inning, and to third in the third, then did the same thing again in the fifth and the sixth, but Sanborn and the Monmouth defense shut down the threats each time.

Arsenault was a threat all on his own. he followed up his two-steal trek in the first with another in the third off an infield single. But Sanborn struck out the next two batters after the one-out hit to keep Arsenault stranded at third once again.

“Sanborn has a good move, but (Gavin) had his move timed up. He’s a very, very smart base runner,” Palmer said of the steals. “You got to tip your cap to Sanborn in that situation. He bore down when he had to and he was dominant.”

The Mustangs added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth. Harris led off with a single, then moved to third on Avery Pomerleau’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Travis Hartford’s bloop single over second baseman Riley Robinson’s head with a drawn-in infield.

The Cougars then tried their best to scratch runs across in the top of the seventh. Corriveau led off with a walk to knock Sanborn out of the game. Richardson then took the mound and gave up consecutive fielder’s choices to Luke Lueders and Arsenault, then walked Gus Brown on four pitches to put two runners on. Robinson then struck out looking on a 3-2 pitch to end the game.

“Not worries, just it made us work a little harder,” Palleschi said of the seventh. “It made us focus a little bit more and make sure that we did finish the game.”

Despite the loss, Palmer was proud of his young and inexperienced team’s effort against the top seed.

“We gave the No. 1 seed a run for their money, and that’s all I can ask for,” he said.

“Best of luck to Monmouth. They’re a class act. I love Eric Palleschi to death,” Palmer added. “I’m rooting for them.”

The Mustangs move on to the semifinal round, where they will face No. 4 Sacopee Valley at home on Saturday.

Thanks to Dirigo, Monmouth will be ready for whatever challenge the Hawks present.

“I told them, I said ‘these are the types of games we’re going to have from here on out,'” Palleschi said.

wkramlich@sunjournal.com