STANDISH, Maine — Liam MacMillan wasn’t even on the Searsport High School baseball roster when the 2015 season started.
But the Vikings were thrilled that he was there when it ended on Saturday afternoon.
The freshman pulled a single to right-center field, scoring Mitchell Philbrook from second base with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, to lift Searsport to a 4-3 victory over Stearns in the Class D baseball state championship game at Saint Joseph’s College.
“I was hoping I would hit. It was just the best feeling in the world,” said McMillan, who joined the team after early, season-ending injuries to starters Jake Powell and Eric Phillips.
Coach John Frye’s Searsport team (16-4) claimed its fifth state title and the program’s first since 2008.
“It was the most nervous I’ve been in forever,” MacMillan added.
Searsport and Eastern Maine champion Stearns of Millinocket (16-4) had split a regular-season doubleheader on June 4. This one was a duel between Searsport junior right-hander Troy Reynolds and Stearns senior righty Nick Dumas.
Reynolds, who allowed only one run (to Stearns) in 44 innings during the regular season, scattered six hits and racked up 16 strikeouts while mixing his fastball and an effective curveball.
Reynolds (8-0) wound up throwing 146 pitches.
“I said, we need to know honestly how you feel and he said, ‘coach, I don’t want to come out of this game ’til I have to,” Frye said.
Reynolds wasn’t about to give in.
“There was no way I was not going out there” for the eighth,” he said.
“Our second option today was Troy,” offered senior Jay Burkard. “First, second and third.”
Dumas was victimized by early errors, which helped the Vikings put up three runs in the first three innings. He allowed only five hits, striking out six and walking two, throwing 104 pitches.
“He did well, settled down after the first couple innings,” said Stearns coach Don Boyington.
Philbrook was the catalyst in the Searsport eighth, pulling a single to left with one out. He moved up when Dumas knocked down Reynolds’ hot shot back to the box and threw him out at first.
Third base coach Mel Grant called Philbrook and MacMillan together before the next at-bat. MacMillan worked a 2-2 count and pulled a hard single to right-center.
“I had the ball in my hand ready to go play in the field,” Burkard admitted. “That’s a big step-up.”
“What more can you ask from a freshman in a pressure situation like that,” Frye said.
The Vikings built a 3-0 lead, taking advantage of three errors.
In the first, Burkard reached on a fielding error by the shortstop and raced to third on Kyle Moore’s hit-and-run single through the right side. The run scored on another miscue.
Searsport scored two more in the second. Ben Powell walked and came all the way around to score when Connor Kneeland laid down a bunt single on which the third baseman’s throw sailed high over first.
One out later, Barrett Grant delivered a run with a groundout to shortstop.
“Four errors. That’s state championship nerves,” Boyington said.
Stearns, which stranded five runners over the first three innings, finally broke the ice in the sixth.
Zachary Bouchard hit a fly-ball double down the right-field line and scored when Marc Morneault reached on a throwing error by the second baseman. Morneault moved up on Devin Whitney’s infield single toward the middle that was knocked down by Moore.
Whitney stole second, then Jordan Cullen got aboard on a throwing error by the pitcher that allowed a run to score. However, Searsport cut down a run when Whitney tried to score on a wild pitch but was nabbed at the plate.
Cullen tallied the tying run when Gary Malcolm struck out on a pitch in the dirt that got away, forcing a throw to first base.
“We struck out way too many times,” Whitney said. “We couldn’t hit them in at the times that we needed it.”