AUBURN — Payton Kennison’s 121st pitch of Saturday afternoon hit Danny Nadeau. Delivery No. 122 plunked Matt Roy.

Five more pitches and a walk put Tyler Furtado on base for St. Dom’s as the potential tying run and left Spruce Mountain coach Brian Dube’s wheels turning. OK, maybe spinning.

“Eli (Capen) was used up, and Evan (Castonguay) sometimes takes a while to warm up,” Dube said. “That was going to be his last batter, either way.”

Kennison, a sophomore making his first start of the season after several strong relief efforts, coaxed Aaron Schmitz into a fly ball to Capen in center field to seal a 6-3 MVC baseball victory for the Phoenix.

Despite giving up only four hits, Kennison stranded 11 St. Dom’s runners on base, including eight over the final three innings. Kennison worked around seven walks and four hit batsmen.

“I was just trying to hit my spots,” Kennison said. “It got away from me a little but I got it back. I’m tired.”

Spruce Mountain (4-3) helped Kennison by committing only one error and turning two double plays, both begun by Capen’s running catches in center field.

Capen moved to center field from third base earlier this week.

“We moved our center fielder (Scottie Hall) to right, because I knew with this big field we had to have some wheels,” Dube said.“And boy, did (Capen) make some plays today.”

The Phoenix also made the most of their nine hits.

Ben Keene and Kennison clubbed two-run doubles on consecutive Joe Bryant pitches with one out in the third, staking Spruce Mountain to a 4-0 lead.

“We’ve been struggling with our bats the last couple games really bad,” Keene said. “Today everyone showed up. We got the bat on the ball, got guys on base and got two big hits.”

Keene and Bill Calden each went 2-for-4 with a double and two stolen bases. Hall was 2-for-3 with an RBI.

St. Dom’s (5-3) could only solve the Kennison riddle in its half of the third, scoring three runs on two singles.

Caleb Dostie’s one-out hit preceded walks by Bryant and Zak Johnson. Jimmy Theriault’s sacrifice fly made it 4-1. Drew Gosselin’s line drive to center tallied two more.

Capen ended the threat by cradling Nadeau’s fly to center. Aside from that uprising, Bryant’s leadoff single in the first and Johnson’s hit in the fifth were the extent of the Saints’ offense.

St. Dom’s, four times a Class C champion since 2005, has lost three of its last four games in an eight-day span.

“It has been a common theme here since last Saturday (a 6-5 loss at Lisbon). We’re not getting the key hits with guys on base,” St. Dom‘s coach Bob Blackman said. “We’re not putting the quality at-bats together that we need to.”

Calden’s two-out rip to left plated Keene against reliever Johnson in the fifth. The Saints pegged Kennison at the plate to limit the damage.

Gavin Jones drew a walk and Jake Bessey reached on a two-out error to set up Hall’s RBI single in the sixth.

“I told these guys from the get-go we were going to see everybody’s number one (pitcher), and at some point it would make us a better team,” Dube said. “I think we’re starting to show what we can do.”

Before the control issues, Kennison chalked up his fourth and fifth strikeouts of the day at Theriault and Gosselin’s expense to start the seventh.

Spruce Mountain needed the signature win to strengthen a playoff charge in its inaugural Class B season.

“They’re the defending state champions,“ Keene said. “That’s big Heal Points for us and a big confidence booster. It really showed everyone what we’re capable of.”

St. Dom’s dropped one-run games to Lisbon and Wiscasset since winning its first four out of the gate.

“We’re having a hard time getting everybody thinking the game properly,” Blackman said. “We‘ve got to right the ship.”