With the bases loaded and the count in his favor, 2-0, Hyde knew Francoeur had no choice but to bring the fastball. When he did, Hyde sent it out of Franklin Pasture in a hurry.

Hyde’s grand slam put Pastime Club ahead for good in Thursday’s Zone 3 championship. Ben Wigant added a solo home run and Ryan Riordan pitched three innings of one-hit relief to give Pastime its second consecutive zone title with an 8-4 win over Windham.

Pastime (19-2) will be the No. 1 seed in the double-elimination state tournament next week in Old Orchard Beach. It will try to become the first team to win three state titles in a row since Nova Seafood of Portland won four straight 2001-04.  At 7 p.m. next Wednesday, it will face the winner of Saturday’s play-in game between Zone 2 runner-up Gardiner and the Zone 5 runner-up Kennebunk.

“I think if we do like we’ve done the last two years, stay calm and don’t worry when we fall behind and keep fighting, I think we’ve got a good shot again,” Hyde said.

They don’t have to go back two years for an example, either. Pastime trailed 2-0 and 4-3 on Thursday, but kept it’s cool throughout.

Francoeur breezed his first time through Pastime’s lineup, throwing just 30 pitches (24 strikes) through three innings. By then, Windham had jumped Pastime starter Joe Sullivan for a 2-0 lead on RBI singles by Francoeur and Matt McLean.

Francoeur started leaving his pitches up in the fourth and Pastime capitalized. Matt Bowen (two hits) roped a double down the left field line to score Sullivan (two hits) and send Mekae Hyde to third. Wigant plated Hyde with the tying run with a sacrifice fly to right. With two out, Chris Madden hit a bouncer that second baseman Mitch Hodge couldn’t handle, allowing Bowen to score the go-ahead run.

Windham reclaimed the lead in the fifth, chasing Sullivan with a leadoff single by Cody Dube and a walk to Francoeur. Riordan came on in relief and promptly hit McLean to load the bases.

Pastime was willing to trade the tying run for the double play and got the ground ball it was looking for to shortstop. It forced the runner at second, but Wigant couldn’t handle David Cusson’s relay in the dirt. Dube and Francoeur scored for a 4-3 lead.

Riordan shut Windham (15-6) down from there, ending the inning with a pair of strikeouts sandwiched around a walk. He retired six of the last seven Windham batters to pick up the victory, striking out five.

“I just kept my head on telling myself to throw strikes,” said Riordan, the Lisbon High School ace who pitched only three times for Pastime this season. “You’ve got to live batter to batter, pitch to pitch.”

“We’re fired up about Ryan,” Pastime coach Todd Cifelli said. “We didn’t have him early part of the season, but he’s come back to us with a great attitude. We’ve told him for the last 10 days or so that his time is coming. The biggest spot in the zone tournament, he got the ball and didn’t disappoint.”

Nate Berube got Pastime’s five-run fifth started with a single. With one out, Sullivan singled and Mekae Hyde reached on an error.

Corbin Hyde worked the count in his favor, 2-0, after taking a borderline curve ball for a ball, then jumped on Francoeur’s heater and launched it over the right-field fence.

“The fastball was middle in, waist high and I just turned on it,” Hyde said. “I’ve been working with coach (Dave) Jordan a lot, with trying to stay up and spin balls into the gap. I came early today for practice and it definitely helped a lot.”

“(Francoeur) just kind of ran out of gas,” said Windham coach Nick Dubay, whose team must win Saturday’s play-in game against the Zone 1 runner-up to make the state tournament. “I was really hoping he could get through that fifth inning and then we’d go from there, but it kind of fell apart and we just ran out of arms.”

One out later, Wigant clubbed a 3-2 pitch over the wall in right for the 8-4 lead.

“I feel great for Ben. He’s coming off a brutal (knee) injury from last spring,” Cifelli said. “He’s been a great stick for us, adding to what we had in the spring. Ben’s a championship player and to see him in a championship spot and hit a home run is just awesome to see on many fronts.”