STANDISH – Thomas College baseball coach Greg King called it his “five-year plan.” He hoped to get his fledgling program into the NAIA New England Tournament’s championship game by the fifth year.

The Terriers exceeded expectations on Sunday at Larry Mahaney Diamond.

Riding the arms of Caribou senior lefthander Seth Cronkite and Calais freshman righty Jeremy Dow, impressive airtight defense and 30 hits, the Terriers stunned 38-game winner and top seed St. Joseph’s College 6-4 and 15-1 to claim the tournament title Sunday.

Third seed Thomas, 19-17, will visit Dominican College (N.Y.) for a best-of-three Region 10 championship series beginning Thursday at 11 a.m.

St. Joseph’s, which swept four games from Thomas during the regular season by an average of 5.7 runs per game, finished at 38-6.

In the final game, Dow scattered 12 hits and two walks while going the distance. He is now 3-2.

His mates staked him to a 4-0 first-inning lead; a 7-1 cushion after three and a 10-1 edge after six.

“I was hitting my spots and letting the defense make the plays behind me,” said Dow, who entered the game with a 6.49 earned run average. “I went mostly with my fastball and kept it low. The defense came up big all day long.”

He also said being staked to an early lead was “great.

“And I knew they’d keep pouring it on. They’ve come through for me all year,” said Dow, who threw 79 strikes among his 129 pitches.

Bucksport’s Buzz Simpson drove in three of the first seven runs with an RBI single in the first and a two-run base hit in the third.

“I was just looking to make contract. I was trying to put the ball in play. I hit it where it was pitched,” said Simpson.

Scott Sibley’s RBI single, Geoff Burnham’s sacrifice fly and Simpson’s base hit produced three of the four first-inning runs.

Josh Porter singled in a third-inning run before Simpson’s sharp one-hopper skipped over second baseman Luke Hannigan’s glove for a two-run base hit.

Sibley had five hits in Thomas’ 19-hit attack. Porter and Mike White had three apiece and Arron Tripp and Corey Pelletier had two each. White and Sibley each had two doubles. Simpson drove in three runs while White, Sibley, Porter and Burnham delivered two each.

J.P. Lambert, Jesse LaCasse and Jim Becvar were the Monks’ repeat hitters.

“We hit the ball real well today,” said junior third baseman Sibley. “We didn’t have anything to lose. Everybody expected St. Joe’s to win. Dow and Cronkite pitched great games and we made the plays.”

King said the biggest key for Dow as well as Cronkite “was that they didn’t allow a big inning.”

St. Joseph’s junior left fielder Dave Wellington said, “We couldn’t catch a break and get a big hit when we needed to. They did everything they had to in order to win and didn’t make any mistakes. They were the better team today.”

Cronkite, who said he went mostly with his curve and changeup “because I didn’t have much on my fastball,” allowed 11 hits and four runs in 7? innings in the opener.

Simpson’s first homer of the season, a two-run shot, capped a five-run third-inning rally that provided Cronkite with a 6-0 lead.

After Pelletier doubled home a second-inning run, consecutive singles by Tripp, Hotham and Sibley (RBI) ignited the third-inning uprising.

An errant pick-off by losing pitcher Charlie Buker and a sacrifice fly Burnham chased home the next two runs before Simpson pulled a 2-1 pitch over the 320-foot sign in left.

Millinocket’s Steve Osborne drove in the first three St. Joseph’s runs with a single, his 22nd homer and a groundout before Joe Holland’s fielder’s choice made it 6-4 in the eighth.

Chad Stowell retired all five hitters he faced to notch the save.

Hotham had three hits for Thomas, including a double, and Tripp had two. Osborne, Holland and Lambert had two each for St. Joseph’s.

The Monks committed seven errors in Sunday’s two games and made a critical base-running mistake in each game.

On Saturday, sophomores Greg Dumais and Hannigan each had three hits and combined for six RBIs to lead the host Monks past Husson College 11-1 in the semifinal round.

Junior pitcher Brent Dan stayed unbeaten (8-0) by allowing just two hits in eight innings while striking out nine and walking three hitters.

Osborne (one RBI) and Joe Holland (two RBIs) each had two hits for St. Joe’s.

Brewer’s Donnie Sawyer doubled and Tony Creek singled for the only Husson hits.

In another Saturday game, Thomas knocked off Castleton State 5-1, thanks to a two-out error that produced the tying run and set the stage for Lance Haynes’ game-winning grand slam.

Later that night, Thomas beat Husson 8-6 on a dropped fly ball and a wild pitch with two outs in the 10th.

Sibley had a double and two singles and drove in two runs while Haynes and Porter had two base hits each.

Keith Simmons doubled and singled for Husson.

(Saturday’s First Game)

Husson 010 000 000 – 1 2 2

Saint Joseph’s 012 026 00x – 11 15 2

Dostie, Reynolds (6), Klink (7), Foster (8) and Worcester

(Saturday’s Second Game)

Castleton State 001 000 000 – 1 8 3

Thomas 000 000 005 – 5 9 1

Goguen and Bingham; Burnham, Hotham (9) and Haynes

(Saturday’s Third Game)

Thomas 104 010 000 2 8 12 1

Husson 100 010 140 0 6 9 5

Stowell, Hotham (8) and Haynes; Montgomery, T. Reynolds (5) and McGlinn

Terriers 6, Monks 4

(Sunday’s First Game)

Thomas Saint Joseph’s

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

White, rf 5 0 0 0 VanDerburgh, rf 4 0 0

Tripp, 2b 5 1 2 0 Dumais 1 0 0 0

Hotham, 1b 4 1 3 0 Wellington, lf 5 1 0

Sibley, 3b 3 1 1 1 Osborne, cf 4 1 3

Haynes, c 4 0 0 0 LaCasse, 1b 4 0 0

Laing 0 0 0 0 Hannigan, 2b 4 1 0

Burnham, lf 4 1 1 1 Newell, dh 4 0 0

Porter, dh 2 1 1 0 Holland, c 3 0 1

Simpson, cf 5 1 1 2 Mirabello 0 0 0

Pelletier, ss 4 0 1 1 Lambert, 3b 4 0

Doyon 1 0 1 0 Becvar, ss 4 1 0

Totals 37 6 11 5 Totals 37 4 11 4

Thomas 015 000 000 ? 6

Saint Joseph’s 001 010 110 ? 4

E?Cronkite; VanDerburgh, LaCasse, Bevcar, Buker; LOB?Thomas 13, Saint Joseph’s 7; 2B?Hotham, Pelletier; Osborne, Hannigan; HR?Simpson; Osborne; DP?Saint Joseph’s 1

Thomas IP H R ER BB SO

Cronkite (W,2-1) 7? 11 4 4 1 3

Stowel 1? 0 0 0 0 1

Saint Joseph’s IP H R ER BB SO

Buker (L,5-1) 2? 6 6 1 3 2

Jacques 4? 4 0 0 2 1

Gilbert 1? 0 0 0 1 1

Pyne ? 1 0 0 0 2

HBP?Porter by Buker, Gilbert; WP?Cronkite 3; Jacques;

Terriers 15, Monks 1

(Sunday’s Championship Game)

Saint Joseph’s (38-6) Thomas (19-17)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Mirabello, rf 3 0 1 0 White, rf 5 2

Newell, 1b 2 0 0 0 Tripp, 2b 4 1 1

Wellington, lf 5 0 1 0 Hotham, 1b 5 1

Osborne, cf 4 0 1 0 Sibley, 3b 6 3 2

LaCasse, 1b-rf 4 0 2 0 Haynes, c 4 0

Dumais, dh 4 0 1 0 Laing 0 2 0 0

Hannigan, 2b 3 0 0 0 Burnham, lf 3 1 2

Holland, c 3 0 1 0 Porter, dh 3 1 2

VanDerburgh 0 1 0 0 Simpson, cf 4 0 3

Lambert, 3b 4 0 3 0 Pelletier, ss 5 2 0

Bevcar, ss 3 0 2 1

Totals 35 1 12 1 Totals 39 15 19 13

Saint Joseph’s 001 000 000 ? 1

Thomas 403 120 50x ? 15

E?Newell, LaCasse, Hannigan; LOB?Saint Joseph’s 10, Thomas 11; 2B?White 2, Sibley 2; DP?Thomas 2; SB?Laing, Pelletier

Saint Joseph’s IP H R ER BB SO

Berry (L,4-1) 2* 5 6 2 2 1

Gates 1# 3 2 1 1 0

Pyne 3? 7 6 3 2 1

Gilbert 1? 4 1 0 1 1

Thomas IP H R ER BB SO

Dow 99 12 1 1 2 3

WP?Berry, Gilbert; Dow; PB?Holland; *-faced two batters in the third; #-faced one batter in the fourth