BANGOR – After stranding two runners in the second inning of Monday’s state Class B championship game … and two more in the third … and having a runner picked off in the fourth … Foxcroft Academy seemed poised to finally break through against Maranacook starter Mike Buckley in the fifth.

The first two runners reached base, then moved to second and third on a wild pitch, as the Black Bears clung to their 2-0 lead.

Momentum belonged to the Ponies. Their leadoff man, Danny White, was up. The big bats loomed.

Eventually, the game finished up as a 10-0 win for the Bears of Readfield. And how that happened had a lot to do with what transpired in the five minutes after that wild pitch.

White was called out after being assessed a third strike for stepping out of the batter’s box. Then Maranacook of Readfield’s catcher – a lefty named Jared Lemieux – picked the runner off third.

The Black Bears tacked on a run in the sixth and seven more in the seventh to turn what had been a stirring pitchers duel into a comfortable victory and their second state title in three years.

“I’ll tell you: One pitch, one hit, one play, and the complexion of that game is changed,” Maranacook coach Don Plourde said. “I think I wore a path in the dugout walking back and forth.”

Maranacook finishes up 19-2 while Eastern Maine champ Foxcroft Academy winds up 15-6.

The catalyst for Maranacook was Lemieux, a lefty who found out he’d be catching (for the first time in four years) at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday. Lemieux called up a middle school catcher to line up a mitt, then showed up ready for work.

“I know what to do. I’m not an idiot,” Lemieux joked. “I’ve played baseball my whole life, and if you play long enough, you learn every single position. And that’s your job as a player: To know everything, know all of the positions and master the game.”

Lemieux used his knowledge to help calm the hard-throwing Buckley, who tossed an eventful complete-game three-hitter that included seven walks, a hit batsman, and a bucketful of grit.

Lemieux had a hand in both of the big plays in the fifth: First, he casually reminded home plate umpire Kevin Joyce that he’d warned White about stepping out of the box, and that another transgression should be a strike. Then, three pitches after White had been called out, he unleashed a laser to third base to pick off Foxcroft’s Aaron Sutton.

“I definitely did say something,” Lemieux said, describing his chat with the umpire. “I didn’t want to take any credit for it, because everyone was going crazy.”

Foxcroft coach Paul Withee was among those who vehemently argued the call. Withee’s gripe: The play hadn’t been called all year in Eastern Maine, though batters routinely step out of the box.

Withee was ejected by Joyce in the top of the sixth. Withee said he asked Joyce if he was going to call a strike on a Maranacook batter who’d done the same thing White had.

“I thought the fifth inning might be the inning where [Buckley] might have fallen apart at the seams, but we didn’t do a good job running the bases and Danny stepped out and got the third strike,” Withee said. “All of a sudden, we’ve got the bases loaded with two outs instead of the bases loaded with no outs.”

Buckley got out of the bind by inducing a pop fly to right by cleanup hitter Seth Gabarro.

Gabarro had one of the three hits against Buckley, a booming double to left-center in the second.

Buckley, who struck out six to improve to 4-0 after taking up pitching midway through the season – he’s normally the catcher – credited the defense.

“I think that’s a real sign of a championship team, when you can get into a jam and then find yourself out of it with help from your defense, not just depending on your pitching,” Buckley said.

Maranacook manufactured two runs on one hit, a walk, a hit batsman and two sacrifice flies off Foxcroft’s Jason Weymouth in the first, then got a single run off him in the sixth. Weymouth allowed just one hit through five innings before tiring.

Ben Muniz drove in three runs for Maranacook while Seth Emery had two hits. Shane Mason also drove in two runs.

BLACK BEARS 10, PONIES 0

Maranacook (19-2) Foxcroft Acad. (15-6)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Lemieux, c 3 2 1 0 White, ss 2 0 0

Emery, ss 4 2 2 0 c-Grass 1 0 0 0

Muniz, 1b 3 2 1 3 Withee, lf-cf 2 0 0

Lake, lf 3 0 0 1 d-Stakutis 1 0 0

Buckley, p 2 1 1 1 Chambers, cf-3b 2 0 0

a-Berube 0 0 0 0 Gabarro, 1b 3 0 0

Drapeau, rf 4 1 0 0 Crocker, 3b-p 3 0 0

Danforth, rf 0 0 0 0 Weymouth, p-lf 0 0 0

Cloutier, 3b 2 1 0 0 Croan, c 3 0 0

Mason, dh 2 0 1 2 Sutton, rf 2 0 0

Kenney, 2b 1 0 0 0 Pelletier, 2b 1 0 0

Cook, cf 3 1 0 0 b-Annis 1 0 1 0

Totals 27 10 6 7 Totals 21 0 3 0

a-ran for Buckley in sixth; b-singled for Pelletier in seventh; c-struck out for White in seventh; d-struck out for Withee in seventh

Maranacook 200 001 7 ? 10

Foxcroft Academy 000 000 0 ? 0

E?Weymouth 2, White, Gabarro, Chambers; LOB?Maranacook 5; Foxcroft 8; 2B?Gabarro; DP?Emery-Kenney-Muniz; SF?Muniz, Lake; SB?Lemieux, Emery 2, Muniz 2, Buckley, Cloutier; Weymouth

Maranacook IP H R ER BB SO

Buckley (W, 4-0) 7 3 0 0 7 6

Foxcroft IP H R ER BB SO

Weymouth (L, 6-3) 6 1/3 4 6 5 4 3

Crocker 2/3 2 4 0 1 1

HBP?Lemieux by Weymouth; Sutton by Buckley; WP?Buckley; Crocker; T?2:20; ATT?300 (est.)