BANGOR – As Andy Wentworth rounded first base in the bottom of the eighth inning of Tuesday’s Eastern Maine Class B baseball final, he fell – giving him the perfect vantage point to view his reward for a job well done.

The Bucksport senior had driven the ball through the gap in right-center to the base of the Mansfield Stadium fence.

Instinctively Wentworth tried to hurry to his feet, but as he saw teammate Phil Harvey circling the bases, that urgency vanished. Harvey scored from first base, and the top-ranked Golden Bucks had a hard-fought 5-4 victory over No. 2 Foxcroft Academy and their first regional title since 2000.

“I tripped, but then I saw Phil going around the bases,” said Wentworth, who also earned the pitching victory with a 1-2-3 relief effort in the top of the eighth. “I thought, ‘I’m good, I did enough.’ I just watched from where I was.”

The win, Bucksport’s 12th straight, sends the 15-4 Golden Bucks to Saturday’s 5 p.m. state final at Gorham High School against Western Maine champion Oak Hill. Foxcroft, the 2002 Eastern B champion, finishes at 13-6.

Foxcroft lefthander Jason Weymouth – who hurled a complete-game eight-hitter with 12 strikeouts – struck out the first two batters in the Bucksport eighth before Harvey singled to right. When Wentworth hammered a 1-1 pitch toward the gap, Harvey never stopped running.

“Andy’s had some big hits all year,” added Bucksport coach Mike Cowing. “Certainly not as big as that, but he has a terrific swing and when he’s on it he’ll hit the ball hard.”

This was a 1-1 pitchers’ duel featuring Harvey, the Bucksport starter, and Weymouth through five innings, with Harvey twice escaping bases-loaded jams unscathed.

Bucksport took a 1-0 lead in the second as Robbie Pushard singled and later scored on a bloop single to right by Harvey. Foxcroft tied the game in the fifth, with Josh Withee tripling to right and scoring on a pop single by Weymouth just beyond the drawn-in Bucks’ infield.

Bucksport scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth for a 4-1 lead, two on a single by Marcus Boober and the third when pinch runner Kyle Perkins scored from second base on a sacrifice fly by Pushard.

But Foxcroft rallied to tie the game with three runs in the top of the seventh. Danny White and Matt Carey (3-for-4) singled, and the bases became loaded when Bucksport couldn’t make the force-out at second base on a grounder by Withee.

Weymouth and Seth Gabarro hit RBI singles to drive home White and Carey, but a strong throw by Bucksport left fielder Travis Pelletier cut down Withee at the plate on Gabarro’s hit. A Brandon Croan fielder’s choice drove home Weymouth with the tying run.

“Most teams would have hung their head down 4-1 in the seventh inning,” said Foxcroft coach Paul Withee. “But Danny, who’s done it all season long when we needed a big hit, led off with a single and we just rolled from there.

“I really thought we were going to get them, but hand it to the Bucksport kids, they made the plays when they needed to make them,” he said.

Bucksport nearly won the game in the bottom of the seventh, getting a runner to third base with no one out before Weymouth escaped with a flyout to shallow right and two infield popouts around a pair of intentional walks.

BUCKS 5, PONIES 4 (8 innings)

Foxcroft Acad. (13-6) Bucksport (15-4)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

White, ss 5 1 1 0 Knight, cf 3 0 0

Carey, cf 4 1 3 0 Gifford, 3b 2 1 0

Withee, 1b 4 1 2 0 Sheehan, ss 4 1 0

Weymouth, p 3 1 2 2 Boober, c 3 0 2

Gabarro, dh 3 0 2 1 b-Perkins 0 1 0

Sands, rf 0 0 0 0 Pelletier, lf 4 0 0

B.Croan, c 3 0 0 1 Pushard, dh 3 1 1

a-J. Pelletier 1 0 0 0 Cain, rf 0 0

Conway, lf 4 0 1 0 Jackson, 2b 3 0 0

Annis, 3b 4 0 0 0 Hopkins, 2b 1 0 0

C. Pelletier, 2b 4 0 0 0 P. Harvey, p-1b 4 1

Wentworth, 1b-p 3 0 1 1

c-J.Harvey 0 0 0 0

Totals 35 4 11 4 Totals 30 5 8 5

a-grounded out for B. Croan in the 5th; b-ran for Boober in the 6th; c-ran for Wentworth in the 7th

Foxcroft Acad. 000 010 30 ? 4

Bucksport 010 003 01 ? 5

Two outs when winning run scored.

E?Weymouth; Hopkins; LOB?Foxcroft 9, Bucksport 8; 3B?Withee; DP?Gifford-Jackson-Wentworth, Gifford unassisted; SF?Pushard; SB?Weymouth 2; Perkins, Pushard, Hopkins

Foxcroft Acad. IP H R ER BB SO

Weymouth (L) 7 2/3 8 5 5 4 12

Bucksport IP H R ER BB SO

P.Harvey 7 11 4 4 2 4

Wentworth (W) 1 0 0 0 0 1

HBP?Wentworth by Weymouth; WP?Weymouth; P.Harvey; PB?Boober; T?1:59; ATT?425