LIVERMORE FALLS – Every successful team needs at least one glue guy, someone that brings the team together in tangible and intangible ways.

For the past four years, Zach Keene has been the glue of Livermore Falls’ baseball team. He’s one of the three seniors, along with Jake Marceau and Kevin Gats, who promised coach Brian Dube when they were freshmen that they would play for a state championship this year. It seems Keene has been willing to do just about anything to follow through on that promise, and it’s probably no coincidence that the Andies will be playing for their first Class C state championship since 1999 Saturday (5 p.m., St. Joseph’s College) against Searsport.

This year, he’s played shortstop, second and third. He’s also DH’d and pitched for the Andies this year (posting a 3-1 record with a 2.13 ERA).

Over the course of his four-year career, there almost isn’t any position he hasn’t played.

“He’ll do anything we ask,” Livermore Falls coach Brian Dube said. “He’s steady in the infield, and just like the other two seniors, he’s just a real good student athlete.”

“With the exception of my freshman year, I’ve had to play center field, first base, pretty much everywhere, so I was used to it coming in,” Keene said. “I don’t mind it. I like it.”

Keene also serves as a bridge in the Andies’ potent lineup, currently batting fifth behind the team’s leading hitter, Josh Tainter, and in front of a couple of other .400 hitters, Chandler White and Caleb Baron.

“He’s batted anywhere from three to five in the order and he’s one of the top athletes on the team,” Dube said. “He was right around the .400 mark all year. We’ve got him in an RBI spot right now behind Tainter, and he can make contact, drive in runs and steal a base.”

Just as he isn’t picky about where he plays in the field, Keene doesn’t have a preferred spot in the order. It helps knowing that wherever he bats, he’ll probably have someone on base ahead of him and someone in the on-deck circle to protect him.

“If the pitcher is going to pitch around us, they have someone else that can hit the ball behind us, so they have to choose their poison,” he said.

“He’s always been a decent hitter and he’s worked hard to get better,” Dube said. “All of the seniors set a good example for the younger kids. They’ve stuck with the tradition of being good fastball hitters.”

On the mound, Keene’s fastball won’t blow a lot of hitters away, but his ability to mix his pitches made him a reliable arm in the Andies’ deep rotation this year.

“Whenever we’ve asked him to take the baseball, he’s done it and done a good job. He led the team in earned run average most of the year,” Dube said. “He isn’t overpowering, but he hits his spots. He’s made very few mistakes.”

Keene’s name often gets lost among bigger names in the Andies’ lineup and pitching rotation, as well as among the Mountain Valley Conference’s top infielders. That was also the case in his best sport, basketball, where he has been among the top players in the conference the last couple of years but was often overshadowed by peers such as Winthrop’s Sam Leclerc.

But the spotlight isn’t what he has been chasing for four years.

“I’d love to go out on top. That’s what I’ve wanted, to end it like that,” said Keene, who plans to play basketball and possibly baseball at the University of Maine at Farmington. “I don’t want anything else but that.”