STANDISH — About three months ago, Ryan Palmer stood behind Kalle Oakes and me at the Augusta Civic Center press table during a break in the tournament action and tried to convince us his Dirigo Cougars might not be among the favorites in the Class C baseball race.

My esteemed colleague and I were quite amused. We knew the Cougars had come within one win of their third consecutive state championship game last year and had just about everybody coming back.

We also knew, even though the nucleus of Palmer’s baseball team hadn’t yet completed its quest for a state basketball championship, that Dirigo not contending for a championship in anything is about as likely as Cleveland contending for a championship in anything. We thought Palmer was pulling our leg.

“I don’t know if we have the pitching,” the coach insisted.

“I did say that,” Palmer admitted when reminded of his comment after the Cougars won their second Class C title in three years Saturday. “I wasn’t sure if we had the pitching to get to a state championship. They proved me wrong.”

Seated only a few feet away in the dugout was senior Cody St. Germain, who let out an “Ouch” when I quoted Palmer on his pitching prognostication. When Palmer said “They proved me wrong,” St. Germain was about 67 percent of  “they.”

Palmer went into the season knowing he had a true No. 1 starter in Ben Holmes. His concern was who would be his No. 2. St. Germain gained the coach’s confidence as the season unfolded and pitched brilliantly in the Western C championship game on Tuesday.

With Holmes and St. Germain on the mound and fellow seniors Caleb Turner and Jake Dowland lending their contributions at shortstop and catcher, respectively, Palmer had all of the experience and leadership a coach could ask for, and then some.

The seniors already had state titles in football, baseball and basketball on their collective resume, and were just a couple weeks off picking up their first Gold Ball in the latter, when Palmer set the tone for baseball season in mid-March.

“After they won the basketball title, I told them at tryouts, ‘If you remember that feeling, if you have that same feeling for baseball season, you’ll have a gold glove (championship trophy),” Palmer said. “The seniors did a great job leading the way.”

The seniors gave the Cougars a swagger that comes with four years of winning, a run of success that even they admit they couldn’t have imagined as wide-eyed freshmen if someone suggested four state titles were in their future.

“I would have told them they were crazy, but then, if they told me we would lose (in the state championship) with Tom Knight my freshman year in basketball, I would have told them they were crazy for that,” Holmes said.

Dirigo’s underclassmen paid tribute to the seniors by doing their part to make sure their careers had a not-so-crazy ending.

“This feels awesome, especially for those seniors because it’s their last game in high school,” said junior left fielder Chad Snowman, who was a homer short of the cycle on Saturday. “To send them out with a win is very nice.”

“We wanted to give the seniors one last experience before they leave and let them leave on a good note,” junior center fielder T.J. Frost said.

It will be a tough act for the underclassmen to follow, but they will have the talent and their predecessors’ example to follow.

The junior class, led by starters Frost, Snowman, Spencer Trenoweth, Brett Whittemore and Hunter Ross, is loaded. Freshmen such as Tyler Frost and Kaine Hutchins will have a year of varsity experience under their belts.

No one is more confident the young pups are ready to take the torch than the seniors who will be passing it to them.

“Dirigo’s still got a future ahead of them,” Turner said. “In baseball especially. Trenoweth throws hard. (Freshman Kaine) Hutchins is going to be an up-and-coming star, I believe. Tyler Frost is starting at third as a freshman. He’ll be an offensive and defensive phenom in the future. He reminds me of (former Mountain Valley slugger) Justin Staires.”

Palmer, who took over a state championship team two years ago and has shown he knows a little bit about keeping a winning tradition going, shares Turner’s optimism.

“I’m really looking forward to next year. We’ll have a great senior group again and hopefully we’ll be back here again,” he said.

Palmer might want to remember those words. Oakes and I will be waiting for him next winter.