STANDISH — With melted eye-black trailing down the cheeks that do little to soften his perpetual scowl on the mound, Erik Henderson looked Saturday like every ounce the bulldog from central casting.

Never truly comfortable until the leadoff hitter gets on base, then scurries to within 90 feet of nirvana, Henderson gave his Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School teammates and fans the customary thrill ride.

Followed by a victory parade.

Henderson pitched the first shutout in a Class A baseball championship game since 1995, silencing Biddeford on seven hits in a 1-0 masterpiece at Saint Joseph’s College.

“Nope, I don’t even care. Runner at first base? Great. Second? No big deal. Third? Whatever,” Henderson said. “I just keep pitching.”

Seven Biddeford runners concluded an inning on base, four in scoring position.

Henderson coaxed Alex Lauzon and Taylor Rouillard into groundouts on a total of three pitches to start the seventh.

Pinch hitter Cody Chaloult lined a first-pitch single to left, putting the tying run aboard and bringing up Henderson’s counterpart, Biddeford leadoff hitter Trevor Fleurent. Henderson worked the count to 1-and-2 with a steady diet of curve balls.

Catcher Matt Verrier signaled for another deuce. Henderson (7-0) shook it off and blew a fastball past Fleurent to end it.

“He really was awesome,” said Ethan Davidson, who produced the only run with a two-out single in the fourth. “We knew it was going to be like this. Any game you get in the playoffs is going to be close. Look at Brunswick. We blew them out twice, and then their pitcher threw a great game against us (in the quarterfinals) and it was 2-0.”

Henderson logged that shutout, too, plus a complete-game win over Brewer in the Eastern final before the state gem on three days rest.

He threw only 78 pitches, never issuing a walk and only twice stumbling into a three-ball count. There were no strikeouts until Henderson reared back and fanned Travis Vigneault and Chris Jones consecutively to strand Tigers at first and second base in the sixth.

It was over in 1 hour, 33 minutes.

Bangor beat Portland in the last 1-0 Class A final 15 years ago. By contrast, Oxford Hills (18-2) — which won its second state title in six seasons — scored 10 runs in its last two playoff wins.

“Obviously Erik is gifted with his arm,” said Oxford Hills coach Shane Slicer. “He doesn’t care if it’s the Yankees or wiffle ball in his backyard. He thinks he’s going to win out there.”

Fleurent, a southpaw with a herky-jerky delivery, a 12-to-6 o’clock curve and a change-up that tempts hitters to swing twice, was equally dynamite.

Also dealing on minimum rest, Fleurent allowed only four hits, struck out seven and walked one.

“You hear about a guy and you know he won the Western Maine championship, so you figure he must be good,” Oxford Hills second baseman Andrew Keniston said. “He was great. I don’t think I ever really figured him out, to tell you the truth.”

The Vikings did decipher one clue, though. Fleurent preferred to throw his fastball early in the count.

Keniston, who popped out in the first inning, rifled Fleurent’s second offering of the fourth just inside the chalk in front of the left field wall for a double.

“I’m just glad it stayed fair,” Keniston said. “It wasn’t by much.”

Verrier drew a walk before Cody Hadley’s fly out to right moved Keniston to third. Fleurent struck out Jordan Croteau on three pitches prior to the home-schooled Davidson’s heroics.

“The last couple games he’s done that. He’ll strike out a couple of times and then get up there and give us a big hit,” Slicer said of Davidson. “He’s actually the guy who was in the dugout pointing out that (Fleurent) liked to throw the first-pitch fastball. His game was steady all day. He didn’t get caught up in the hoopla.”

Biddeford (12-8) had ample opportunity to return the favor. There were no 1-2-3 innings for Henderson.

The Tigers’ leadoff hitter reached base in every inning except the third and seventh.

Unassisted outs by Davidson at first base stopped Biddeford runners at third in each of the first two frames.

Trevor Parker singled and raced to second when Oxford Hills’ booted the ball to start the fourth. Henderson lured No. 5 hitter Vigneault into a key pop-out to Kyle Farrar at third on the next pitch.

Leadoff singles by Rouillard in the fifth and Scott Callahan in the sixth each lost their momentum with an immediate out.

Rouillard was gunned out trying to steal second. Oxford Hills called for a pitchout, and Verrier’s throw to Keniston arrived three steps ahead of the runner.

A fielder’s choice preceded the strikeouts in the sixth.

“We ran through a lot of great pitchers in our last four or five games,” said Biddeford coach Casey Roy. “I think we saw everybody’s ace, and I’m pretty sure we out-hit all of them. Today they were the ones who got the big hit when it counted.”

Callahan was 2-for-2 and Tyler Parker 2-for-3 for the Tigers.

D.J. Croy cranked a leadoff triple in the Vikings’ third. Fleurent answered by striking out Henderson, Farrar and Nate Dubois in succession.

Verrier singled in the sixth for Oxford Hills’ fourth and final hit.

Somehow it was enough.

“I’m always pretty much thinking throw a shutout and get as many strikeouts as I can, but I didn’t know it was going to happen like this,” Henderson said. “We all saw the 2005 team win, and it looked pretty good. Now we know how it feels.”

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