STANDISH — When informed of the news that his team’s opponent in Saturday’s Class D baseball state championship had won its regional final, 17-0, Buckfield coach Joe McLaughlin couldn’t help but laugh.

“All right, so they can hit,” he said.

McLaughlin and the Bucks know better than to shrug off Eastern Maine champion Bangor Christian, which they will face at noon Saturday at St. Joe’s Mahaney Diamond. The Patriots denied the Bucks their first state title last year (and won their first) with a 7-3 triumph in last year’s title game in Bangor.

“A team that’s very well-coached,” McLaughlin said of Bangor Christian. “They’re stout. They have speed. They’re very baseball-savvy. They’ve played a lot of baseball. You can tell.”

Last year, perhaps because it hadn’t played in a championship game in 15 years, Buckfield committed three errors leading to five early runs, digging itself a hole from which it never emerged.

McLaughlin said his team will be better prepared for the running and small-ball style the Patriots used to put pressure on his defense last year.

That familiarity could help the Bucks’ psyche as much as anything. Bangor Christian (18-1), which graduated just one senior from last year’s team, dominated Eastern Maine, outscoring its opponents 37-0 in three playoff games. All three games ended early under the 10-run rule, and Patriot pitchers allowed just one hit in each game. Senior Ben Bragg will likely get the starting nod on Saturday. He was the winning pitcher in last year’s game, a loss that still stings the Bucks.

“I know a lot of us who lost want to come back with a vengeance and beat them,” said senior shortstop/pitcher Garrett Hamann, who was the winning pitcher in Thursday’s 8-5 Western D final victory over Richmond. “I’m pretty pumped to go and play them.”

Revenge has been a theme for the Bucks all season.

“Some of the biggest games this year that I wanted to win was the (two) regular-season games against Old Orchard Beach because they gave us our one regular-season loss last year,” said senior second baseman Jeff Pepin, whose team knocked off the Class C Seagulls twice. “I can’t wait to play (Bangor Christian).”

Buckfield (14-1) had to overcome significantly more roster turnover than Bangor Christian. But seniors Pepin, Hamnn and Dalton Hart helped fill the leadership void, and the return of sophomore Tyler Vallee, who missed last season with a hand injury, along with the contributions of new starters junior Keenan Stockdale and sophomores Ben Strout and Jared Eastman, allowed the Bucks to garner the top seed in Western D.

“They’ve been a great help,” Hamann said of the underclassmen.

The Bucks have won 11 in a row since their lone loss to Richmond. They’ve scored just under 10 runs per game during that stretch, but they have also won some close ones (six wins in games decided by three runs or less).

“I think a big part of it is team chemistry,” Pepin said. “No one ever gets down on each other. If someone makes a mistake, nobody’s made at him.”

“It really speaks a lot for the work ethic of these kids,” McLaughlin said. “They’ve really taken it upon themselves to work hard. We work hard in practice. We have a lot of fun. I think that’s part of it, too. We joke around, but we know when to be all business. This game, there’s too much going on to play it uptight.”

One of the least uptight Bucks is their ace, junior left-hander Jonah Williams. The Bucks’ hitting star in last year’s title game, Wiliams will toe the rubber on Saturday.

“He’s a gamer,” McLaughlin said. “He’s a kid that before the game might be talking about the Miami Heat and all that kind of stuff. But then give him the ball and he’s all business. There’s no one I’d rather give the ball to in that position.”