AUBURN — Wiscasset’s bunter/baserunner was making good time to first, so Zak Johnson knew he had to act fast.

Johnson, trying to protect a one-run St. Dom’s lead in the sixth, dashed off the mound, fielded Cody Hodgdon’s bunt near the first base line, and tried to throw first baseman Drew Gosselin. But the ball struck Hodgdon in the back and went into short right field. Jason Weatherbee, the runner at first that Hodgdon was trying to advance, went all the way to third, representing the tying run with no one out.

But not for long.

Hodgdon was called out for running out of the baseline. Weatherbee was ordered to return to first, and the Redskins never got any closer to tying the game.

Johnson and Will Desmarais combined to shut down Wiscasset over the final three innings and St. Dom’s took advantage of a couple of crucial Redskin mistakes to pull out a 5-4 win in Friday’s meeting between two of the top teams in the MVC South.

“It was a bunt right on the line,” Johnson said. “I picked it up. I didn’t reposition myself because he got down the line pretty quick. I didn’t give myself enough space to make a good throw and it hit him in the back. Fortunately, the interference call saved me.”

Wiscasset coach Todd Souza admitted he didn’t have the best angle on the play from the third base coaching box, but felt Hodgdon was running in the baseline.

“The kid’s sprinting down the line a hundred miles and hour. It hits him in the back. These are varsity kids,” he said. “They’re running down the base path. They’ve been doing that since they were 12 years old.”

“But we just didn’t field and make any of our own breaks, and we didn’t get any breaks today,” he added.

Wiscasset (2-2) contributed to its own demise, giving up two runs without a hit in the first and an unearned run in the fourth that proved to be the difference. In a game where each team collected two hits, such mistakes proved very costly.

“Pitching and fielding was our benefit today,” Saints coach Bob Blackman said.

Senior catcher Kyle Hargreaves came up with the first big defensive plays of the day, blocking several Kurt Johnson pitches in the dirt in the first inning to keep the Redskins from scoring. Johnson helped himself by picking a runner off second in the second. In the third, second baseman Joe Bryant hustled to catch a pop fly in shallow right field and keep a leadoff runner off base.

The Saints (2-0) got on the board without benefit of a hit in the first. Wiscasset starter Mason Brewer walked two and hit two batters, the second plunking, of Desmarais, coming with the bases loaded to make it 1-0. With the bases still loaded, Danny Nadeau hit a grounder to the shortstop that looked to be the third out, but Desmarais beat the second baseman and the throw to second base, allowing Kurth Johnson to score and made it 2-0.

Jimmy Theriault made it 3-0 with an RBI single in the bottom of the frame.

Kurt Johnson cruised through the third inning but quickly lost his rhythm in the fourth, walking the first two Redskins. Alex Parker relieved him and surrendered a two-run double to Brewer then, after an out and a hit batter, another two-run double to Eddie Stewart that gave Wiscasset a 4-3 lead.

The Saints reclaimed the lead in the bottom half with a two-out rally. Zak Johnson walked, stole second and scored on Bryant’s single that tied it. Bryant promptly stole second and third and scored when the catcher’s throw to third tipped off the third baseman’s glove.

Zak Johnson relieved Parker to start the fifth and issued a leadoff walk but stranded the tying run in scoring position. He didn’t give up a hit in two innings of relief.

“I knew I could control my curve ball pretty well and I threw that most of the time,” Johnson said. “They seemed to struggle with it, and I’m confident in my defense behind me.”

“He’s really had command of his secondary pitches,” Blackman said. “All of our pitchers are really commanding that off-speed. Until they start sitting on it, we’re going to take full advantage of it.”

Desmarais pitched a 1-2-3 seventh to get the save.