BANGOR- The St. Dominic Academy Saints captured their second straight Class D Baseball State Championship on Tuesday night, defeating Bangor Christian 4-1 at Mansfield Stadium.
St. Dom’s (14-5) scored two runs in the second inning off Bangor Christian standout pitcher Jason Libby and never looked back. Ridge Dionne led off with a line drive single to right field, would steal second base, and advanced to third on a groundout by Riley Daigle. Ethan Pelletier then laid down a perfect bunt on a squeeze play that scored Dionne for an RBI, and Pelletier beat the throw by Patriots catcher Micah Robert to first to reach safely. After a flyout and a passed ball, Pelletier would score on a wild pitch by Libby to make it 2-0 in a game the Saints never trailed. The advantage would grow to 3-0 in the third inning when pitcher Ashton Hammond led off with a double down the left field line, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and came across to score on a sacrifice fly by Tim Oullette. Bangor Christian had their first big threat off Hammond in the bottom of the third when Jon Benjamin led off with a walk, Jason Libby singled, and then with one out his twin brother Ryan also singled to load the bases. The Patriots scored when Cole Payne popped out to deep second/shallow center bringing home Benjamin, and on the throw to home plate the runners moved up to second and third base. St. Dom’s escaped anymore damage when Hammond induced Colton White to groundout back to the mound. Bangor Christian only had three more baserunners the rest of the way, one on a walk, one on a single by Payne, and another on an error in the seventh inning. The Saints would end the the scoring in the seventh when Hammond reached on an error, stole second, and advanced to third on a groundout. He would score on a wild pitch by Payne who had relieved Libby who reached his pitch count after six. Jason Libby reached base on a two out error in the Patriots last at bat to keep things alive, but the game ended when Robert grounded one to shortstop and would reach on a throwing error by Oullette at first but the first baseman Pelletier would make a heads up play turning and gunning the ball over to third where they cut down the lead runner Libby for the final out to give St. Dom’s another state title.
Hammond went the distance for St. Dom’s to pick up the victory on the mound allowing one run on five hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. He also had a double and scored twice. Daigle and Pelletier had two hits each for the Saints, and Ryan Bussiere had a single and two walks reaching base all three times at the plate. Jason Libby took the loss for Bangor Christian giving up three runs on eight hits with two walks and six strikeouts in 6.0 innings. Ryan Libby had two hits for the Patriots, who end their season at 16-2. They were seeking their first state championship since 2014.
Recap/photos/videos by Chris Lessner/additional videos by Marc Calnan and additional photos by Anthony DelMonaco
