Buckfield has already done something no Buckfield baseball team has done in 15 years. Now the Bucks want to do something no Buckfield baseball team has ever done.

Two days after winning its first Western Class D crown since 1997, Buckfield will try for its first state championship against another team also looking for its first title, Bangor Christian.

This is Buckfield’s fifth appearance in the state championship game (1988, 1989, 1994, 1997). It is Bangor Christian’s first.

The Bucks, who were the top seed in the West with a 17-1 record, have won five in a row since losing their only game to Old Orchard Beach, a Class C school. They beat No. 3 Valley, 9-6, on Thursday for the regional title.

“We can’t be satisfied. We can’t be happy,” Buckfield coach Joe McLaughlin said. “We hit one of our goals this year, which is good, but we have work to do. I don’t want to be one of those teams that’s happy to be there because those teams don’t win championships.”

The Bucks were much sloppier than usual in their win over Valley, issuing 11 walks and committing three errors. Despite the “9” in the run column, they only managed three hits.

But there were flashes of the more familiar Bucks during the game. Senior catcher and cleanup hitter Alan LeBel had two of the three hits, including a double, and drove in three runs. Senior pitcher Cody White, who will likely get the start on Saturday, shook off some early control problems and dominated Valley in his final two innings of relief.

The Bucks also didn’t come unhinged when Valley put them in a quick 2-0 hole, or when the Cavaliers rallied from an 8-2 deficit to pull within two late.

“A couple of times this season we’ve had early deficits. We’ve really persevered through that. Most of our wins we have had to come back. Even the game that we lost to Old Orchard Beach, we had three comebacks in that game,” ” McLaughlin said. “That’s one thing I don’t worry about as a coach, their mentality after getting behind.”

The Bucks started the season with a 12-game winning streak in which their average margin of victory was nearly 10 runs per game. That margin has narrowed to about two runs per game over the course of  this five-game string.

Even if their playing isn’t as crisp as it normally is, as was the case Thursday, McLaughlin said he’s never worried about the Bucks’ focus in a tight game.

“They’re very loose. They don’t tense up,” he said.

That mentality could come in handy against Bangor Christian (18-2). The Patriots like to put pressure on opposing pitchers and defenses with a “small-ball” approach that featured seven stolen bases in their 8-3 regional final win over No. 3 Southern Aroostook.

Bangor Christian has just one senior, a stark contrast to Buckfield, which has seven seniors on its roster. But the Patriots do have quite a bit of championship game experience. Many of their players have been part of at least one of the last three state soccer championship squads. Saturday’s all-junior battery of catcher Rem Poulin and pitcher Ben Bragg, who has already won two playoff games this year, have been a part of all three.

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