The Bangor High School Rams scored three runs with two outs in the sixth inning to erase a 2-1 deficit and they went on to beat Oxford Hills of South Paris 5-2 at Morton Field in Augusta in their state Class A North championship game on Tuesday.
Bangor, 16-3 and the number three seed, will face 18-1 Gorham in Saturday’s 1 p.m. state championship game at Morton Field. Gorham beat Noble of North Berwick 7-2 in the South final.
Top seed Oxford Hills wound up 17-2 with both losses coming to Bangor. The Rams earned a 10-5 regular season victory over the Vikings in Bangor.
Bangor trailed 2-1 with two outs in the sixth inning when a pair of walks issued by sophomore Carter Davis started the rally.
Senior Alex Kearns, who had come off the bench to play first base, singled to drive in the tying run.
Hampden Academy transfer Nick Llerena knocked in what proved to be the winning run with an infield single that he earned with a headfirst slide at first. Jonas Gilley followed with an RBI single.
Kearns produced an insurance run in the seventh by drawing a bases loaded walk.
Oxford Hills had taken a 2-1 lead on RBI singles by Cam Pulkinnen and Finley Cavers in the third inning.
Senior lefty Matt Turcotte picked up the win with 5 ⅓ innings of four-hit, two-run ball (one earned). He struck out five and walked three. Llerena came on and retired all five hitters he faced to earn the save. He struck out four of the five hitters.
“Turcotte battled,” said Bangor coach David Morris, who is retiring to Florida after Saturday’s state championship game. “There were a couple of innings in which they could have scored more but he got himself out of it. We turned a double play in one of them. When we needed that big strikeout, he got it. When we needed a big ground ball, he got it.
“And then Nick Llerena came in and shut them down,” added Morris, whose team scored all of its runs with two outs.
He noted that he received some important offensive contributions from the bottom of the order and from players coming off the bench like Kearns and Llerena.
“It was just a gutsy performance,” said Morris. “Our guys are winners.
“There wasn’t one negative thing being said when we were down. It was business as usual. It’s a really good group. I’m proud of them,” added Morris, who has led the Rams to five regional championships in nine seasons and will be seeking his third state championship.
He said Oxford Hills’ Davis pitched a “great game” and called Oxford Hills a “very good team.”
Davis allowed just one run through five innings. He went 5 ⅔ innings, allowing five hits and four earned runs with five strikeouts and four walks.