STANDISH — For one precarious moment, Dave Guildford wished baseballs came with a string.

St. Dom’s Kurt Johnson had just beaten Dirigo shortstop Spencer Ross’ throw to first, but Guildford saw the Saints’ Joe Bryant breaking from second for third, and the Cougars’ first baseman thought he had a shot at him. So he started his throwing motion before realizing that third baseman Tyler Chiasson, who had made a diving attempt at Johnson’s grounder, wasn’t there.

“I’m, like, ‘Nobody’s there,'” Guildford said. “I saw Tyler out of the corner of my eye and I altered my throw a little bit and I’m just lucky I got it over to him.”

Chiasson took the throw and tagged Bryant out, which helped snuff a potential game-tying rally in the seventh inning and was the final example of how the Cougars made the plays and the Saints didn’t in Tuesday’s Western C baseball final.

Top-seeded Dirigo scored five runs on four St. Dom’s errors in the first two innings and held on to defeat the defending state champions, 6-4, at Mahaney Diamond on the campus of St. Joseph’s College. The Cougars will play the winner of Tuesday night’s Eastern Maine final between Calais and Penobscot Valley.

The Cougars (17-2) won their first Western Maine baseball title in school history and their third Western Maine title this school year. The football and basketball teams also took home regional crowns.

Chiasson led Dirigo with two doubles and three runs batted in. Chris Bryant sparked the comeback attempt for the Saints (15-4) with two hits and three RBIs.

Defense was a key in the teams’ two previous meetings and it was a key Tuesday. St. Dom’s made five errors on Memorial Day and lost, 5-1. Dirigo made five miscues in the MVC championship game and lost, 8-5.

“Our defense was great today,” Dirigo coach Dave Lafleur said. “Our last loss to them, we played poor defense and their last loss to us, they played poor defense. They gave us a little bit of a cushion and we were able to hang on.”

Three St. Dom’s errors in the first inning set the tone. Ross’ ground ball took a tough hop on the infield dirt and rolled up shortstop Alex Parker’s arm to get the lead runner aboard. With one out, Chiasson doubled to left-center to score Ross, then moved to third on a passed ball. After Ryan Lafleur walked, Parker fielded Guildford’s grounder and tried to start a double play as Chiasson trotted home, but his throw went too far to the left of second base.

Arik Fenstermacher then hit a pop up behind third base. Parker retreated and called off third baseman Shayne Curtis but appeared to lose the ball in the sun and missed it, which allowed Lafleur to score to make it 3-0.

The Cougars added two more in the second as Parker’s nightmare continued. With a runner at first and one out, Tyler Gates grounded back to Chris Bryant on the mound. Bryant whirled and threw to second, but Parker dropped the ball. That opened the door for Chiasson to rip a two-run double to the opposite field in right for a 5-0 lead.

“If you saw the shift they had on me, I swear their right-fielder was almost in center field,” said Chiasson, a right-handed batter. “I noticed that, and he was pitching me outside because they knew I like to pull the ball, so I went with the pitch.”

“I don’t know if I’ve seen two worse innings out of a St. Dom’s ball team than those first two innings. We just couldn’t do anything right,” Saints coach Bob Blackman said. “No one felt worse than (Parker). Four errors in two innings for him, that’s so uncharacteristic. He doesn’t make four errors in a year. Everything that happened was so uncharacteristic that it was tough to imagine.”

Eric Bolduc’s RBI single in the third made it 6-0, but the Cougars weren’t taking the big lead for granted.

“Parker’s one of the best defensive shortstops I’ve ever seen, and (St. Dom’s) is not going to let themselves get down,” Guildford said. “They always seem to find a way to rally, and no lead is safe.”

Dirigo starter Ryan Lafleur made it safe for as long as he had to, working out of a walk and single in the first and a walk in the second before rolling through a 1-2-3 third.

“Confidence-wise, it’s big because you know you can make some mistakes and get away with it,” Ryan Lafleur said. “But St. Dom’s is a hell of a team.”

The Saints began to rally in the fourth, as Chris Bryant delivered an RBI double off the glove of a diving Fenstermacher in center to make it 5-1. In the fifth, Lafleur loaded the bases on walks before giving up a two-out, two-run single to Chris Bryant and an RBI single to Garrett Darnell that pulled them within two.

That ended the day for Lafleur (4.2 innings, five hits, four earned runs, two Ks, four walks), who gave way to Fenstermacher. Darnell stole second, but the Dirigo southpaw stranded him there when Jimmy Theriault popped out to second.

“I’m sure Ryan wore down a little bit having thrown three innings (Saturday) and with all the hype and everything today. Usually, he gives me a hard time when I come out to get the ball from him, but today he said, ‘Go with Fensty,'” Dave Lafleur said. “Arik did a great job coming in, throwing strikes and keeping them off-balance a little bit.”

“It felt good knowing there were two outs, so I just had to get one more batter,” Fenstermacher said. “I knew that I had great defense behind me. We had no errors today, which was awesome.”

Dirigo’s bats went virtually silent in the final three innings, as Bryant (six innings, six hits, one earned run, six Ks, one walk) sent down nine in a row and 11 of the last 12 Cougars.

Dirigo’s defense helped keep Fenstermacher out of a jam in the sixth, turning a 6-4-3 double play to render a walk and infield hit harmless. Despite Joe Bryant getting thrown out at third by Guildford, the Saints still got the tying run on in the seventh after Chris Bryant walked. But Fenstermacher got Darnell to fly out to right and Theriault to pop out to Guildford for the final out.

The Saints lose just three seniors to graduation — Curtis, Darnell and Chris Bryant. Four of the other seven starters in Tuesday’s game were freshmen or sophomores.

“These seniors set the tone for the team,” Blackman said. “They’re top-character guys. They didn’t allow the young guys to get off-base and go down that wrong road. It was a good bunch of seniors, but there is a good nucleus of guys coming back.”

The Cougars avenged a loss to the Saints in their last regional final in 2006 and gave themselves a shot at their second state title this year.

“They seem to know how to get it done,” Dave Lafleur said.

Dirigo celebrates their win in the Western Class C baseball championship against St Doms on Tuesday at St Joseph’s College ,Standish.

Dirigo celebrates their win in the Western Class C baseball championship against St Dom’s on Tuesday at St Joseph’s College ,Standish.

Dirigo’s Spencer Ross steals second before St Dom’s shortstop Alex Parker applies the tag in the Western Class C baseball championship game played at St Joseohs College , Standish on Tuesday.

St Doms catcher Kyle Hargreaves makes the tag for the out at home on Dirigo’s Eric Bolduc in the Western Class C baseball championship game played at St Joseohs College , Standish on Tuesday.

Dirigo’s 2nd baseman Tyler Gates makes the throw to first base for the double play in the Western Class C baseball championship game played at St Josephs College , Standish on Tuesday.The St Doms runner was William Desmarais.