Baseball: St. Dom’s strikes first to beat Searsport for second straight D South title

STANDISH — St. Dominic Academy pitcher Tim Ouellette experienced several stressful innings, but he remained on the mound for one reason and one reason only — longtime Saints coach Bob Blackman.

It was no easy task for the lanky junior to hang in there, but he went the distance and the third-seeded Saints beat top-ranked Searsport 4-1 to cop another Class D South regional baseball title at St. Joseph’s College on Wednesday afternoon.

The defending state champs make another run at a Class D crown Saturday at Mansfield Field in Bangor, where they will face second-ranked Bangor Christian at 4:30 p.m. Bangor Christian beat top-ranked Katahdin 12-1 in the D North title game Wednesday.

Ouellette threw a two-hitter and struck out five batters after the Saints (13-5) came rushing in with the four runs in the top of the first inning. St. Dom’s used three hits and one error to stun the Vikings (14-4).

But despite the pressure and a warm sun, he kept thinking about why Blackman gave him the job on the mound.

“It was a little stressful in the seventh inning, but I know I am the guy that Blackman wanted and I had to get the job done,” Ouellette said.

Ouellette often threw high pitches even though he only walked four batters.

“The mounds were really high here and I really felt it the first inning, and then it was hot, too, and so I was sweating bullets the entire time,” Ouellette said. “You can’t have doubts in yourself when you are up there, you just got to keep focusing.”

“We needed him to throw strikes earlier in the game,” Blackman said. “He had a rough first inning in his last game against Richmond and so we needed him to set that tone, feel comfortable and he would settle in. So we knew that was going to happen.”

In the top of the first, Ouellette got on with one out after being hit by a pitch and raced home on outfielder Miles Frenette’s first of two doubles. Frenette scored with the help of Riley Daigle’s single. Ethan Pelletier followed with another single, and Daigle and Pelletier came home when second baseman Curtis Wheeler on got on with an error.

The Saints were in command up 4-0 and did everything to ensure their four-run outburst held up for the rest of the game. The swift, offensive attack in the first inning also knocked out starting pitcher Ashton Ellis, who was replaced by his brother Gage Ellis in the top of the second inning.

“I love how we came out of the gate,” Blackman said. “We basically prepared all week for that type of attack to get on top of them early … and they did. The first eight batters put the ball in play. Some of those balls were hit pretty hard.”

But the Vikings were persistent all game and loaded the bases in the third with two walks and error, but no runners reached home.

In the sixth, Searsport spoiled Ouellette’s would-be shutout after the Vikings scored their only run. Cole Ellis was hit by a pitch and then thrown out at second on Brady Clements’ fielder’s choice. Clements moved to second base on Drew Bagley’s groundout to first base and scored on Kyle Larrabee’s RBI single.

“If you miss your spots, (Searsport) will take you the opposite way,” Ouellete said. “Like in the sixth inning when they got that hit, that kid ripped a line drive. I missed my spot a little bit.”

The Vikes almost got something else going in the bottom of the seventh inning, but the St. Dom’s defense provided great cover for Ouellette to close out the game.

“We didn’t come out ready to play in the first and then we settled down and it was 0-0 the rest of the way,” Searsport coach John Frye said. “We had our runners on in the seventh and the third baseman (Ryan Bussiere, made a good play on a groundout) to end the game. (The Saints) just took advantage that very first inning and we weren’t quite ready.”