AUBURN — The Saint Dominic Academy baseball team knew Saturday’s game was going to be one to remember, win or lose.
But the Saints really didn’t want to go out with a loss.
Second-seeded St. Dom’s defeated No. 3 Telstar 6-4 in a Class D South semifinal in the final home game for a Saint Dominic Academy varsity team, due to the closure of the high school by the Diocese of Portland.
St. Dom’s (12-6) advances to face No. 4 Boothbay/Wiscasset or No. 1 Richmond in the regional final at 3 p.m. Tuesday at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham.
“It was the last game that we were ever going to play on Bob Blackman Field,” St. Dom’s senior Curtis Wheeler said. “And it was just really nice to get a win for him, for the team, and to move on into the playoffs.”
The baseball field was named after Blackman, the St. Dom’s coach, soon after the Saints won their third consecutive state championship last year. Blackman has coached the Saints since 2004 and has guided them to eight state championships.
“I thought about it throughout the (day) that this is going to be the last game on the field, and it’s kind of a special place for me,” Blackman said. “I hope that the boys, you know, showed up today and played up to their capabilities.”
How did St. Dom’s win?
• Nolan Cavers got the Saints on the board with a two-run double, and he later scored on Ben Dumais’ RBI single to make it 3-0.
• The Rebels (11-5) responded in the top of the second with four runs. Connor Deprey scored on a ground out and two runs came in on an infield error. Bryson Walker hit an RBI triple to give Telstar its only lead of the game.
• Curtis Wheeler had an RBI single in the bottom of the second and Nolan Cavers drove in the go-ahead run with a single. Cavers added a triple in the third inning and in the bottom of the sixth he scored on a Dumais single that pushed St. Dom’s lead to 6-4.
“We had runners on, and I knew I had a job to do, and did what I could to get them in,” Cavers said.
• Telstar’s Bryson Walker walked to start the top of the seventh and moved to third later in the inning. With one out, the Rebels attempted a suicide squeeze, but the pitch was too high for Maceo Bartlett to get his bat on the ball, and Walker was tagged out by St. Dom’s catcher Finley Cavers during a rundown between third base and home for the second out. Saints reliever Logan LeClair then ended the game with a strikeout.
Statistical leaders
• Telstar: Bryson Walker (triple, RBI), Connor Deprey (two singles), Ai Ballou (two singles).
• St. Dom’s: Nolan Cavers (triple, double, single, three RBI), Riley Daigle (double, single), Curtis Wheeler (two singles, RBI), Ben Dumais (three singles, two RBI).
They said it
• “There’s a little bit of pressure because we’re a young team, but we settled in and we did what we needed to do.” — Curtis Wheeler
• “They are always clutch, those (Walker) boys are. This is the first year that they’ve all been able to play together as brothers … first year it’s ever happened. And so we definitely utilize their skills and their abilities.” —Telstar coach Josh Mowery
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