St. Dom’s starter Gavin Bates struck out 14 batters, and Dirigo’s Gavin Arsenault punched out 11 of his own. But it was Arsenault’s Cougars who scored the only runs of the game in a 2-0 win.

Bates set the standard for how the game was going to play out, striking out the side in the top of the first.

Arsenault was Bates’ first victim. so he took his first trip to the mound knowing how he had to pitch.

“I just knew I had to come out stronger than him,” Arsenault said.

The Dirigo (6-4) left-hander also struck out three batters in the first, but had to work around a one-out walk followed by an error, on which Bates reached. But he bore down and got out of the inning.

That was something Arsenault couldn’t do in a relief appearance on Friday, in a game the Cougars won in extra innings.

“Gavin took himself out yesterday, and I think it was for the right reasons,” Dirigo coach Ryan Palmer said. “He knew he had to go today.”

The game featured quick innings back and forth through the first four frames. Bates struck out the side in the top of the inning to raise his strikeout total to 10 while allowing just a harmless walk in the third.

“We knew Bates would be the best we’ve seen all year,” Palmer said. “We knew he throws mid-80s, a hard, heavy fastball. We had trouble catching up to it at first.

Arsenault allowed at least one baserunner in each of the first four frames, but got some help from his defense in the third and fourth, getting a fly-ball double-play and a caught stealing to end a pair of threats.

Dirigo scored both of its runs in the top of the fifth. Cam Turner led off the frame by drawing a walk on full count. Chase Thebarge followed with a single to right for the first hit against Bates. Bryce Whittemore laid a sacrifice bunt down the first-base line to move both runners into scoring position, then Mason Corriveau put one to the left of the mound to score Turner.

“At that point, in the fifth inning, you’re playing for one run,” Palmer said. “We knew we had the bottom of our order, if we get runners on we were going to start bunting and doing all the little things. They know as well as I do when it’s time to play small ball.”

Luke Lueders walked, then Arsenault hit a sacrifice fly to right to bring home Thebarge and make it 2-0.

In the bottom of the inning Riley Volpe dropped a one-out double down the third-base line, but Arsenault stranded him there with a strikeout and a groundout.

“It was two quality pitchers on the mound,” St. Dom’s (8-2) coach Bob Blackman said. “Whoever was going to put two hits together consecutively was going to win the game, and we didn’t put two together.”

The Saints had one last chance in the bottom of the seventh, and Austin Roy started off the inning with a single. He didn’t get any farther, though. Arsenault struck out Mack Pelletier looking, then Hunter Hughes hit a low liner. First baseman Riley Robinson made a diving catch before moving his glove a couple feet to first base to nab Roy for the game-sealing out.

That highlight-reel play finished off a complete-game shutout for Arsenault, who gave up as many hits (three) Saturday as he did in 2-3 of an inning on Friday. Palmer said Saturday was the best that Arsenault has been all year.

“It felt awesome,” Arsenault said. “My team played well behind me. And I just knew if I pounded strikes my players behind me would make plays.”

For the Cougars, who created some breathing room in the playoff hunt, it was a “great team win,” according to Palmer.

Blackman, on the other hand, didn’t read too much into a rare defeat for his team, even with his ace on the mound.

“It’s just another game. Just a second loss of the season,” Blackman said. “We feel comfortable with where we were today.”

wkramlich@sunjournal.com

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