BANGOR – Sunrise Conference Player of the Year Scott Brawn hadn’t been having a good day at the plate when he came up in the seventh inning of a 4-4 tie against Husson College in the Sunrise Conference’s championship round Monday.

That changed with one swing of the bat.

Brawn turned on Paul Klink’s 1-1 fastball and deposited it beyond the right field fence to give Thomas its second conference championship in three years, 6-4, at the Winkin Baseball Complex.

Thomas, now 18-18, will host Wilmington College (Del.) in a best-of-three NAIA Region 10 series on Friday (two games beginning at noon) and, if necessary, Saturday (noon).

Husson finished at 21-17.

“I had to redeem myself, I guess,” said former Cony High School of Augusta standout Brawn, whose homer was his ninth of the season. “I crowded the plate and he left it down and over the middle and I just tried to turn on it.”

Klink said, “I thought it was a good [pitcher’s] pitch. It was a fastball on the outside corner.”

Klink, who pitched well in defeat, had retired the first two hitters in the seventh before Ryan O’Connor grounded a sharp single to left to set the stage for Brawn, whose RBIs were his 41st and 42nd of the season.

“My job was just to get on base. With the Brawn brothers [Scott and Sean] coming up, anything could happen,” said O’Connor.

O’Connor had been instrumental in a pivotal defensive play in the sixth when he hit second baseman Aaron Bonenfant with a perfect relay throw on Tony Laprino’s double off the fence and Bonenfant threw a strike to the plate to nail Billy Kane and keep the score 4-4.

“We got a pretty good gift there. That ball was hit pretty hard. I looked back and it was a foot and a half from going out,” said O’Connor. “Aaron made a real good play just to get it there [to the plate].”

“It was a textbook relay from O’Connor. I heard everybody yelling ‘Four [home plate]’ so I spun and threw and hoped for the best,” said Bonenfant. “I just tried to get it there and tried to be quick doing it.”

“If he had been called ‘safe,’ I definitely think the game might have gone a different way. It was a game-saving play,” said Sean Brawn, who went 3-for-3 to cap an 8-for-11 tournament with eight RBIs.

Brother Scott went 6-for-12 in Thomas’ three tourney wins with six RBIs.

Freshman righty Jordan Stebbins went the distance for the win, striking out eight and walking four. One of the runs was unearned. He threw 79 strikes among his 128 pitches.

“This was the biggest game of his life. He came out and threw very well,” said Bonenfant, Stebbins’ former Gardiner High School teammate.

“Considering the circumstances and the situation, this was definitely one of the best games I’ve ever pitched,” acknowledged Stebbins, who went primarily with his fastball and curve.

“His job was to throw strikes and get outs and that’s what he did,” said Husson first baseman Craig Harvey.

Husson opened the scoring in the second on Steve Estes’ RBI single but Chris Tetreault belted a two-run homer to left in the bottom of the second.

Craig Harvey’s double and Laprino’s base hit tied it in the fourth but Thomas answered with two in the fifth on a hit batsman, Bonenfant’s single, O’Connor’s sacrifice fly and Sean Brawn’s RBI double.

Husson tied it on the sixth on a dropped fly ball, Jason Folsom’s RBI infield single, Kane’s base hit and Laprino’s RBI double off the fence on which Kane was gunned down at the plate.

Sean Brawn was the only player with three hits but Bonenfant, O’Connor and Husson’s Folsom, Craig Harvey, Kane and Laprino had two each.

TERRIERS 6, BRAVES 4

Husson College (21-17) Thomas College (18-18)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

J. Harvey, ss 4 0 0 0 Bonenfant, 2b 5 0

Ferguson, 3b 4 1 0 0 O’Connor, rf 3 1 1

Folsom, c 5 0 2 1 Sc. Brawn, c 4 1 2

a-McInnis 0 1 0 0 Se. Brawn, 1b 3 1 1

C. Harvey, 1b 4 1 2 0 Haynes, dh 4 0

Kane, rf 3 1 2 0 McDonald, 3b 3 0 0

Laprino, lf 4 0 2 2 Tetreault, cf 4 1 2

Estes, dh 4 0 1 1 Porter, lf 3 0 0

Spencer, cf 3 0 0 0 b-Randall 0 0 0

Henderson, 2b 2 0 0 0 Pelletier, ss 3 0

c-Mathieu 1 0 0 0

Totals 34 4 9 4 Totals 32 6 9 6

a-courtesy ran for Folsom in first, sixth innings; b-ran for Porter in ninth; c-grounded out for Henderson in ninth

Husson 010 102 000 ? 4 9 0

Thomas 020 020 20x ?6 9 2

E? Se. Brawn, Tetreault; LOB? Husson 8, Thomas 7; 2B? C. Harvey 2, Laprino, Se. Brawn; HR? Sc. Brawn (9), Tetreault (1); DP? Pelletier-Bonenfant-Se. Brawn; S?Henderson; SF? O’Connor; SB? McInnis, Bonenfant

Husson IP H R ER BB SO

Klink (L, 2-2) 7 1/3 9 6 6 1 4

Brideau 2/3 0 0 0 1 0

Thomas IP H R ER BB SO

Stebbins (W, 2-2) 9 9 4 3 4 8

HBP? Se. Brawn (by Klink), Pelletier (by Klink);BK? Stebbins; T? 2:15; ATT? 100 (est.)