GORHAM – The first pitch didn’t take away the uncertainty.

The second warm-up toss didn’t ease the mind much either. Still, Ryan Turgeon kept throwing.

“I was a little unsure, but then I was like My team needs me, and I feel I can work through it,'” said St. Dom’s senior pitcher. “That’s exactly what I did.”

Turgeon hurled a four-hitter Tuesday, beating Jay 6-2 in the Western C championship game and avenging last year’s loss in the regional final.

“It was a pretty gutsy performance,” said St. Dom’s coach Alan Turgeon, Ryan’s father. “I thought he did a great job. He threw strikes when he had to, and he made most of his pitches work for him.”

That’s after both Turgeon’s were unsure whether Ryan would even be able to pitch Tuesday. During last week’s quarterfinal game against Wiscasset, Turgeon was leveled while trying to catch a pop up along the first baseline.

“My arm was killing me,” he said. “I couldn’t even throw.”

Turgeon had a few tosses Saturday, the day of the semifinal win over Telstar. He and his father even tried a few soft tosses Sunday at home.

He threw maybe 15 balls and that was it,” said Alan. “So he didn’t do anything the next two days.”

The coach was ready with a backup plan. He had another pitcher warming up just in case Ryan wasn’t able to go. First, he had to determine whether Ryan still had some pitches left.

“Thirty minutes before the game started, I said You’ve got to throw a pitch. I need to know if you can throw a pitch'” said Alan.

Ryan was concerned about pain. The first pitch showed some rustiness. The second unveiled some tightness. There was doubt and uncertainity but also some determination.

“I was just hoping it wouldn’t hurt,” said Ryan. “I felt it in the beginning. As I started throwing, the adrenaline took the pain away, and I just threw the ball.”

If he was ailing or less than full strength, he didn’t show many signs of it. Jay managed just four hits. Turgeon struck out four and walked just three.

“We hit the ball well today,” said Jay coach Chris Bessey. “That’s the way baseball is. We put the ball in play. We told them before the game that he was going to throw strikes. If you’re going up there and looking at a lot of pitches, you’re going to find yourself down in the count.

So if you go up there and be aggressive, you can’t ask for anything more. We put the ball in play and the defense behind him played excellent.”

Jay’s only real threat came in the fourth inning. The Tigers were down 5-0. Turgeon gave up a hit to Zach Charles and walked Joel Ouellette and A.J. Nelson. Then Ryan Bourassa followed with a two-run double. The Tigers suddenly had new life, but that was as good as it got for the Tigers.

“I just tried to overpower them,” said Ryan. “I can’t pitch like that. I have to hit the corners and let the defense work. When I started doing that, things worked out for the better.”

The Tigers got a hit and drew a walk in the sixth but left two runners on. Turgeon then got three straight in the seventh. It was last year when Turgeon was on the mound and watched the Tigers rally in the final inning with a three-run triple. Ryan remembers the disappointment vividly, but also remembers the motivation for this year.

“They had three hits that whole game and one pitch and the season was over,” Ryan recalls. “I was just hoping for next year. We had most everybody back, and I knew we could do it this year.”