Class D baseball: Searsport defeats Stearns in extra innings

But the Vikings were thrilled that he was there when it ended on Saturday afternoon.

The freshman pulled a single to right-center field, scoring Mitchell Philbrook from second base with the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift Searsport to a 4-3 victory over Stearns in the Class D baseball state championship game at Saint Joseph’s College.

MacMillan delivered Philbrook, who started the rally with a one-out single to left, to give coach John Frye’s Searsport team (16-4) to its fifth state title and the program’s first since 2008.

The contest was the rubber game with Eastern Maine champion Stearns of Millinocket (16-4), which had split a regular-season doubleheader with the Vikings on June 4.

Saturday’s game was a duel between Searsport junior right-hander Troy Reynolds and Stearns senior righty Nick Dumas.

Reynolds (8-0) scattered six hits, piling up 16 strikeouts while mixing his fastball and an effective curveball. He finished with 146 pitches.

He had allowed only one run in 40 innings all season prior to Saturday’s game.

Dumas was victimized by early errors, which helped the Vikings put up three runs in the first three innings. He allowed only five hits, striking out six and walking two, while throwing 104 pitches.

Philbrook was the catalyst in the Searsport eighth, pulling a single to left field with one out. He moved up when Dumas knocked down Reynolds’ hot shot back to the box and threw him out at first.

Third base coach Mel Grant called Philbrook and MacMillan together before the next at-bat.

MacMillan worked a 2-2 count before pulling a hard single to right-center that secured the victory.

The Vikings built a 3-0 lead in the first two innings, taking advantage of three errors by the Minutemen.

In the first, senior Jay Burkard got aboard on a fielding error by the shortstop and raced to third on Kyle Moore’s hit-and-run single through the right side. The run scored on another miscue in the field.

Searsport scored two more in the second inning. Ben Powell walked and came all the way around to score when Connor Kneeland laid down a bunt single and the third baseman’s throw sailed high into foul ground.

One out later, Barrett Grant delivered a run with a groundout to shortstop.

Stearns, which had stranded five baserunners over the first three innings, finally broke the ice in the sixth.

Zachary Bouchard hit a fly-ball double down the right-field line and scored when Marc Morneault reached on a throwing error by the second baseman. Morneault moved up on Devin Whitney’s infield single toward the middle that was knocked down by Moore.

Whitney stole second, then Jordan Cullen got aboard on a throwing error by the pitcher that allowed a run to score. However, Searsport cut down a run when Whitney tried to score on a wild pitch but was nabbed at the plate.

Cullen tallied the tying run when Gary Malcolm struck out on a pitch in the dirt that got away, forcing a throw to first base.