BANGOR – Stearns High School of Millinocket junior righthander Brad Wheaton suffered a pulled back muscle in a 9-6 Eastern Maine Class C quarterfinal win over Sumner High of East Sullivan a week ago.

But he shrugged off the injury to fire a two-hit shutout and Josh Emerson’s two-out, two-run double in the four-run second inning provided the only runs he was to need as Stearns beat previously undefeated George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill 4-0 in their Eastern “C” final at Mansfield Stadium Tuesday.

It was Stearns’ first Eastern Maine baseball crown since 1975 when the school was in Class B.

The win was preserved by senior right fielder Matt Montgomery’s sensational diving catch with the bases loaded that he turned into a game-ending double play.

Third-seeded Stearns, now 17-2, will face 15-4 Telstar of Bethel in Saturday’s state “C” final at St. Joseph’s College’s Ward Field. Game time is 7 p.m.

Number one seed Stevens concluded an 18-1 campaign.

“I was just trying to throw the ball in there,” said Wheaton, who no-hit Stevens for four innings. “I was moving my fastball in and out and I had a sinker that worked really well. I also used my curve and slider. I threw a lot more curves than sliders and my curve worked well in the middle innings.”

Wheaton, now 11-1, wasn’t overpowering but benefited from the Eagles’ overanxiousness at the plate as they swung at a lot of bad pitches. Ten outs resulted from fly balls or popups.

“We swung at a lot of pitches that were up and he got a lot of lazy fly balls off them,” said GSA coach Danny Kane.

GSA leadoff hitter and RBI leader John Lewandowski said Wheaton’s “biggest asset was he was able to throw his curve for strikes.”

Wheaton struck out five and walked five while throwing 57 strikes among his 108 pitches.

The Minutemen backed him with their first errorless performance of the season. GSA also played errorless ball.

Senior righty Toby Cole pitched well in defeat but was victimized by three two-out run-scoring hits in that decisive second inning. He fanned three and walked one en route to a seven-hitter.

“Toby got the ball up in the second and they did a great job hitting it,” said Kane.

Cole agreed, saying, “That’s all it was. After that, I kept the ball down and worked the corners.”

Wheaton started the second-inning rally by blooping an opposite-field single to right and Cole then walked Nick Beaulieu as his 3-2 fastball sailed high and inside.

Anthony Arsenault sacrificed them along and, after a groundout, leadoff hitter Emerson ripped an 0-1 pitch over left fielder Tyler Balombini-Goddard’s head for his double.

It was Stearns RBI leader Emerson’s fifth hit in seven playoff at-bats this season and the RBIs were his 33rd and 34th of the season.

“He threw me a fastball that was high and outside and I went with the pitch,” said Emerson, who had fanned on three pitches to open the game. “I was dissapointed with my first at-bat.”

With second baseman Tim Hikade shading the second-base bag to keep Emerson close, Jason Folsom followed by grounding the ball through the vacated hole left by Hikade for his second of three singles on the day. That scored Emerson.

“He threw me a curve ball and I just slapped it,” said Folsom, who went to second on the throw to the plate and scored when Aaron Civiello lined an opposite-field double to left center.

Mac Martin’s soft single to center ruined Wheaton’s no-hit bid to open the fifth but pinch-runner Joel Wessel was quickly erased on a 4-6-3 double play.

Stevens, which hadn’t been shut out all season, hadn’t had a runner beyond second until the seventh.

Balombini-Goddard was hit by a pitch to start the seventh and, following a fielder’s choice, Wheaton walked Martin and Chris Sargent on nine pitches to load the bases.

Freshman pinch-hitter Chris Candage worked the count to 3-2 and fought off a 3-2 pitch before hitting a looping fly ball into right center that looked like it was going to drop in. But the fully extended Montgomery snared it and threw to first baseman Aaron Civiello at the cut-off spot and Civiello jogged over to tag the first-base bag for the game-ending DP.

“I didn’t think I could get to it,” said Montgomery. “My heart was pounding. I knew I couldn’t get to it if I kept running so I dove and I got my glove up and I caught it.”

Candage said, “I was shocked that he caught it.”

Besides Martin’s hit, Cole’s sixth-inning single was the only other hit off Wheaton.

Minutemen 4, Eagles 0

Stearns (17-2) George Stevens (18-1)

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Emerson, ss 4 1 1 2 Lewandowski, cf 3 0 0 0

Folsom, c 3 1 3 1 Clapp, ss 2 0 0 0

Civiello, 1b 3 0 1 1 Cole, p 3 0 1 0

Donato, lf 3 0 1 0 Collier, rf 3 0 0 0

Montgomery, rf 3 0 0 0 Balombi-Gdrd, lf 0 0 0 0

Wheaton, p 3 1 1 0 Roberts, dh 3 0 0 0

Beaulieu, cf 2 1 0 0 Hikade, 2b 0 0 0 0

Arsenault, dh 1 0 0 0 Martin, 1b 2 0 1 0

Kranich, 3b 1 0 0 0 a-Wessel 0 0 0 0

Morrison, 2b 3 0 0 0 b-Foss 0 0 0 0

Sargent, 3b 2 0 0 0

Bannister, c 2 0 0 0

c-Candage 1 0 0 0

Totals 26 4 7 4 Totals 21 0 2 0

a – ran for Martin in fifth

b – ran for Martin in seventh

c – flied into double play for Bannister in seventh

Stearns 040 000 0 – 4

George Stevens Academy 000 000 0 – 0

2B – Emerson, Civiello LOB – Stearns 1, GSA 6 DP – Morrison-Emerson-Civiello; Montgomery-Civiello SB – Cole, Balombini-Goddard S – Arsenault

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

Stearns

Wheaton (W, 11-1) 7 2 0 0 5 5

George Stevens Academy

Cole (L, 4-1) 7 7 4 4 1 3

HBP – Balombini-Goddard by Wheaton TIME – 2:01 ATTENDANCE – 375 (est.)