GORHAM — No need for dramatics. Yarmouth just needs to clear space in its crowded trophy case for another Golden Glove.
Buoyed by flawless defense, Yarmouth defeated Caribou, 8-1, in the Class B baseball championship game Saturday in front of a full house at Ed Flaherty Field on the campus of the University of Southern Maine.
Sam Bradford pitched five-plus innings of two-hit, one-run ball for the win. Andrew Cheever finished things off, allowing one hit, as the Clippers earned their first state title since 2017.
“It’s definitely nice to add another state championship,” Bradford said. “This is a great way to go out with these guys. We’ve been playing baseball our whole lives together. What an exciting way to go out.”
In addition to being held to three hits, Caribou (12-8) committed six errors behind pitcher Brayden Brescia. The Vikings, seeded sixth in the North, were seeking their first state championship. They reached the state final for the second time in school history by beating defending champion Old Town, Oceanside, and No. 1 seed Ellsworth by a combined margin of 21-4.
“This was kind of our first experience at a setting like this. We’ve played a lot better than that,” said Caribou Coach Josh Dillon. “I don’t know what it was, but today was just one of those days where we had the yips.”
In both the regional semifinals and final, Yarmouth (16-4) had to score two runs in the seventh inning to earn one-run wins against York (5-4) and Greely (2-1).
Against Caribou, Yarmouth scored a run in the first and then benefited from Caribou’s poor defense to score three times in the fourth, twice in the fifth and two more in the sixth. That gave the Clippers plenty of breathing room.
For the 11 seniors who had already helped win state championships in soccer, hockey, golf and football, it was a fitting end to their high school careers, said Yarmouth Coach Marc Halstead.
“It’s small-town high school baseball. Let’s not kid ourselves. The world goes on without Yarmouth baseball, without small-town Class B baseball,” Halstead said. “But for this group of people, it’s the most important thing in their lives right now, and that’s why we do it. It’s an unforgettable moment and you walk together forever. These are the days you remember 50, 60 years down the road.”
Yarmouth lost last year’s state final to Old Town, 1-0.
Against Caribou, the Clippers had plenty of contributors.
Cheever scored two runs, had two hits and made the play of the game on defense when he went deep into the hole and fired across the diamond for an out in the second inning.
“That felt good. I put a good throw on it,” said Cheever, who will play in college at Merrimack. “We came into this having no idea about the other team, but we didn’t care. We had the mindset of we only care about us, we root for us and we play for us and win for us, and that’s what we did today. A good feeling.”
David Swift hit an RBI triple in the sixth inning. Sam Lowenstein drove in Cheever with a sacrifice fly in the first inning and scored in the fifth. Jack Janczuk had two hits and scored a run. Alec Gagnon, a junior whose two-out, two-strike, two-run triple in the seventh inning against Greely sent the Clippers to the state final, had a hit and drove in a run with a bunt. Max Gilbert contributed two hits. Matt Gautreau, kept out of the lineup because of a broken collarbone, was able to pinch-hit and laid down a bunt single in the sixth.
Senior catcher Graeme Roux stymied an early threat when he caught a Caribou runner drifting too far from third base in the first inning after Roux didn’t field a chopper cleanly in front of the plate.
“We practice that a lot. We do a lot of work on secondary plays,” Roux said. “I didn’t make the first play, so I just pump-faked hard to first and threw to third to get the out. We practice our defense every day. We pride ourselves on our defense.”
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