BANGOR

Just like that, it was over. That was the feeling at Mansfield Stadium on Saturday after Richmond scored three runs in the first inning and four more in the second for an early 7-0 lead over Fort Fairfield in the State Class D high school baseball championship.

With ace hurler Zach Small on the hill for the Bobcats, the Class D South champs were never threatened, rolling to an 11-0 five-inning mercy-rule win for the team’s first state title since 2010.

“He was right on today,” said Richmond coach Ryan Gardner of Small. “He has talked about this for a long time, a long time.”

“I have been dreaming about this since I was 5-years old, and getting here and finally being able to bring it home, it feels great,” said Small after striking out seven, walking one and hitting a batter.

For the second straight game, it was all about the start for Richmond. Against Searsport in the regional final on Wednesday, Richmond scored five runs to take control. On Saturday, it was the three-run first that started the Bobcats on their way.

Matt Rines hustled to first on the game’s second pitch from Fort Fairfield starting pitcher Isaac Cyr for an infield single, stole second, advanced to third on a throwing error and scored on a wild pitch. In just six pitches, it was 1-0 Richmond.

Later in the opening frame, Danny Stewart was hit by a pitch and stole second. A walk to Nate Kendrick, another wild pitch and a two-run single by Trystin Shea completed the first-inning uprising.

“It gets the nerves off of you and then we can run the bases with abandoned,” Gardner said of the start.

For Tigers coach John Ala, he felt his team was a couple plays away from escaping unscathed.

“That first inning, they put up a three-spot, but if we make a play or two a little bit sooner, we get out of the first inning scoreless. It wasn’t one play today, we just couldn’t get any momentum going,” Ala said.

“The start was so important. That gave us confidence,” Shea added.

Four more

Richmond kept the pedal down in the second, using solid base-running and timely hitting to grab a 7-0 lead.

Ben Gardner led off with a single and advanced around the bases on three straight wild pitches by Cyr to score Richmond’s fourth run. A walk to Dakotah Gilpatric was followed by a stolen base and a wild pitch, with Cyr unleashing six wild pitches in all over his four innings on the mound (nine hits, nine runs, five earned, two walks, a hit batter and two strikeouts).

“You can see what it does to pitchers,” said Ryan Gardner of his team’s ability to put pressure on Fort Fairfield as Richmond stole 10 bases on 11 attempts in the contest. “Their pitcher was competitive, but he was done in the second inning. Bottom, top, all over the place, we were spraying the ball and running the bases.”

“They put the pressure on us when they got on base. We threw a couple away and didn’t run our pick-off plays as well as we were used to,” Ala said.

Andrew Vachon made it a 5-0 game with an RBI ground out. With two outs, Small drove a Cyr pitch to the gap in left-center field for a double. He scored on a bad-hop single by Stewart, and Stewart later scored on an RBI triple by Nate Kendrick.

“We were able to get our bats going early. It boosted our confidence,” said Kendrick, who was 2-for-2 with a walk and two RBIs.

“We came out and had a case of the nerves,” Ala said. “These guys have been in a lot of big games across all three seasons and they were battle tested. But, Richmond was able to get the best of us those first two innings and we just never recovered.”

Small took over from there. After issuing a leadoff walk to Malcolm Langner to open the bottom of the first, the senior right-hander dominated, retiring the next 13 Tigers. His curveball had Fort Fairfield hitters either moving out of the batter’s box or swinging at pitches in the dirt. He mixed in a dynamic fastball, keeping the Tigers off-balance.

“The insurance they gave me, it made it easy and changed everything for me,” said Small, who closed out his no-hitter with his final strikeout. “I had no idea that I had a no-hitter until I got out here and saw the scoreboard. It was over five, but it sure feels good.”

“He was the fastest pitcher that we had seen this year, and he had a great curveball. He was tough,” said Ala after his Tigers finished 15-3.

Small, who pitched Richmond past Greenville in the D South semifinals, was unable to pitch against Searsport due to the Maine Principals’ Association pitch count rules. However, that meant Small was available on Saturday, while Fort Fairfield ace Jared Harvey was unavailable after earning the mound win against Bangor Christian in the D North regional final.

“I wanted to pitch against Searsport, but once we won on Wednesday, I focused on the state game,” said Small. “I told my coach, there were going to be nerves. But there was no question that this was going to be my last game, and I knew that I had to get in there, be comfortable, and use my stuff. I felt if I did that, we would be good.”

“I felt confident that we had Zach for the state game,” Kendrick said.

Richmond added a run in the fourth when Kendrick singled to score Small, and two unearned runs in the fifth off Tigers reliever Colby Langner completed the scoring.

“They have worked so hard,” Ryan Gardner said after his Bobcats finished the campaign with an 18-1 record. “My son (Ben) is in this class, and they are together all the time. They had a goal and they weren’t going to let anybody stand in their way. We saved our best two games for the last two.”

“To experience this as a senior is so exciting,” said Shea.

Rines was 2-for-4 at the plate with a pair of stolen bases, while Stewart reached base three times and scored a game-high three runs. Gilpatric was 1-for-2 with a double, two runs scored and a stolen base.

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