OLD ORCHARD BEACH — Every state American Legion champion has an X-factor, a player who goes into the tournament unheralded and emerges as one of the key reasons his team is the last one standing in the double-elimination tournament.

If Pastime Club wins a third consecutive state Legion title on Sunday, it may be time to start referring to Ryan Riordan as “Mr. X.”

Riordan threw six innings of one-hit shutout relief Saturday as Pastime rallied from a 3-1 deficit to defeat Windham, 7-3, at The Ballpark.

Pastime will have to win twice on Sunday to make it a three-peat. It will have to beat Post 51 (Messlalonskee) at 1 p.m. If it wins, it will advance to the championship game against First Title (Cheverus) at 4 p.m.

Riordan threw a total of four innings for Pastime during the regular season. But he’s found an expanded role in the postseason, picking up the win in relief in the Zone 3 championship against Windham, then preserving Pastime’s arms with three innings of shutout relief in its tournament opener, a 9-1 loss to First Title on Wednesday.

On Saturday, he entered the game in the fourth inning with a man on first and none out and proceeded to retire 10 of the first 11 batters he faced. He didn’t allow a hit until MacGyver Poulin’s leadoff single in the ninth.

“We’ve had some big spots to throw him in, and he’s pitched lights out,” Pastime coach Todd Cifelli said. “That’s (teams representing) two top SMAA schools that he’s thrown against. It’s just a hell of an effort from him.”

“Pretty much everything was working,” Riordan said. “I know I have a good field behind us, so all I have to do is throw strikes pretty much.”

Riordan combined with starter Eddie Emerson to limit Windham to three hits.

Windham threw ace Cody Dube on two days rest. Dube tossed a seven-inning four-hitter in a 13-1 win over Post 51 on Wednesday but hadn’t faced Pastime in their four previous meetings this season.

“In a must-win situation, you’ve got to throw your best.” Windham coach Nick Dubay said. “He threw well, didn’t give up too many hits. But no matter who you throw against (Pastime), they’re going to hit the ball all over the field.”

Pastime collected 10 hits in Dube’s 6 2/3 innings. Luke Cote, Joe Sullivan, Mekae Hyde and David Cusson led the way with two hits apiece as Pastime hitters grinded out at-bats in an effort to drive Dube’s pitch count up.

“Everbody was trying to have long at-bats and have him throw as many pitches as possible,” said Pastime third baseman Shawn Ricker, who had an RBI double and scored a run. “Coming back on two days rest, that’s hard for anybody.”

Five Windham errors made it more difficult for Dube, but Pastime forced some of those miscues with aggressive base running.

“The hallmark of our team is playing hard and running the bases hard,” Cifelli said. “If you can hit the ball around the ballpark and get the other team to throw it around, then you can attack. When the score is in your favor or close, you can continue to do that.”

They had Emerson to thank for keeping it close early. Riordan wasn’t the only green pitcher clad in Pastime green Saturday. Emerson saw most of his mound time in Junior Legion this year and went into Saturday’s pressure-packed start having faced only 10 batters for the big club.

The southpaw gave up all three runs Windham runs in the third with four walks and two errors behind him. But he kept Pastime in the game against a lineup that had split its previous four meetings with the Zone 3 champions.

“We had a tough decision to make with him this season because he’s a very good pitcher,” Cifelli said. “We didn’t know if he would get innings with us in Senior Legion, so he became our swing player between Junior Legion and Pastime. He might have deserved a better fate (Saturday), but he did what we needed him to do.”

Pastime erased the 3-1 deficit with single runs in the third and fourth.

The run in the third came when Mekae Hyde hit a potential double play grounder to second and beat the throw to first on the back end. Cote, who started the play at second base, never slowed down rounding third and slid into home safely, well ahead of the first baseman’s throw.

Pastime tied the game with an unearned run in the fourth on Nate Berube’s sacrifice fly, then went in front for good with two runs in the fifth.

Cote led that inning off with a single, went from first to third when Windham’s third baseman bobbled Joe Sullivan’s sacrifice bunt attempt, and scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-3.

Windham catcher Jack Herzig threw Sullivan out trying to get to third on the wild pitch. But Mekae Hyde singled, stole second, advanced to third when Herzig’s throw went into center field and scored on Corbin Hyde’s ground out to first.

Pastime chased Dube with two more runs in the seventh on Corbin Hyde’s sacrifice fly and Ricker’s double.

Riordan struck out four and walked two in his stint. The closest he came to trouble was in the seventh, when two errors and a walk loaded the bases with one out. He got Shawn Francoeur to fly out to deep left-center to preserve what was a two-run lead at the time.

“We always knew Ryan was a great pitcher, and we were trying to save him as long as we could, just for situations like this,” Ricker said. “His fastball and curve ball, that’s a tough combination right there. He froze a few guys at the plate.”

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