STANDISH — After a night of agonizing missed opportunity after missed opportunity, Saint Dominic Academy finally watched the right guy walk to the plate at the right time.

Senior Mitch Lorenz greeted Winthrop reliever Ben Allen with a one-out single to right field in the seventh inning, scoring Ray Mosca and Mike Bryant with the go-ahead runs in a 5-1 victory for the Class C West baseball championship at Mahaney Diamond.

“The shortstop was playing almost right behind second base, holding the guy on second,” St. Dom’s coach Bob Blackman said. “We said, ‘Mitch, take it that way, or get a good quality swing on it,’ and he did.”

No. 8 St. Dom’s (15-5) won the regional title for the seventh time since 2003 and will face Bucksport for the state championship Saturday at Bangor’s Mansfield Complex. Game time is 3 p.m. The Saints have won 12 of their last 13 games, including tournament wins over the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds.

Bryant’s return from injury keyed that second-half surge, and he was sensational again under the lights. The senior spun a two-hitter, striking out eight.

“It feels good to beat them. I’m not going to lie,” Bryant said. “I felt good on the mound. My curveball was working all day. My fielders had my back. We just put together a complete game and came out with a win.”

He also weathered a bases-loaded jam in the seventh, the result of a hit batsman and two errors.

Justin Keaney made a huge grab of a Matt Sekerak line drive for the second out. Caleb Labrie robbed Winthrop with a similar leaping robbery back in the first inning.

“Those were rockets,” Bryant said. “They saved me on those.”

After the second infield miscue put the tying run at the plate for No. 2 Winthrop (16-3), Ryan Harvey put away Dakota Carter’s lofty pop-up to second base for the clincher.

“Not too many hits up on that board,” Winthrop coach Marc Fortin said. “We thought if we could hit him, we’d be in business. We’ve been ripping the ball all year. He pitched very well.”

Winthrop replaced Sekerak on the mound with Allen after Mosca and Bryant singled with one out in the seventh. Allen’s first offering was a wild pitch, advancing them to second and third. Lorenz — due to pitch the state game Saturday — laced the next one to right field.

“He threw me a fastball inside, and he missed the spot a little bit,” Lorenz said. “Coach just told me to try to get one to the outfield. I did what I had to do.”

Labrie followed with a double to the gap in left center for a 4-1 lead. He took third on the fruitless attempt to get Lorenz at home and later scored on a passed ball.

“I’ve been in a slump lately, but Mitch and I were joking around and I told him I was going to try to put one out today,” Labrie said. “I got pretty close. I guess I’ve got to hit the gym.”

Allen was the starter in Saturday’s semifinal win over Monmouth, a game in which he suffered a bruise on his throwing elbow.

“I’m second-guessing myself. Maybe I should have gone with Jacob (Hickey). Ben usually takes a while to warm up,” Fortin said. “He said he was ready. He said he was loose. I’m going to second-guess that one all summer.”

Bryant got off to a shaky start, as he did in a quarterfinal win over top-seeded Dirigo.

Mario Meucci crushed a first-pitch, two-out delivery for a no-doubt home run well past the 335-foot sign in left field to give Winthrop a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.

Blackman called for a curveball, and Bryant interpreted catcher Gavin Bates’ sign as a fastball.

“There was a little bit of miscommunication,” Bryant said. “I mucked it up and he put a good swing on it.”

Allen’s leadoff single in the third was Winthrop’s only other hit. He was retired when he slid through third base after he appeared to be safe on a fielder’s choice.

Then came the parade of almosts and not-quites from the Saints.

St. Dom’s left a runner at third base in five consecutive innings from the second through the sixth. The Saints did scratch out a run in the third to pull even.

Sekerak walked Keaney and hit Mosca with a pitch before getting a fielder’s choice off Bryant’s bat for the second out. Lorenz followed with a floater that fell between the retreating shortstop and converging left fielder, scoring Mosca.

In the second, Labrie reached third after a leadoff walk, a wild pitch and a passed ball. Nate Richard dropped a two-strike bunt down the first-base line with two out but was thrown out by a step.

“We thought our defense could hold them,” Fortin said. “We played pretty well there.”

Consecutive one-out singles by Harvey and Richard, then a wild pitch, had St. Dom’s in business in the fourth. Two nice plays by Sekerak saved the Ramblers in that frame. He ranged to his left to flag down Matt Keaney’s tricky pop-up, then corralled a comebacker from Justin Keaney to retire the side.

Mosca and Bryant christened the fifth with back-to-back singles. Adam Hachey, Hickey and Antonio Meucci turned a double play off the bat of Lorenz to dampen that rally.

“That’s the only time I kicked myself,” Blackman said. “I let Mitch have one swing instead of bunting.”

Sekerak coaxed a grounder from Labrie to complete the escape.

“It definitely was getting frustrating, but I think it when it came to the seventh it was an advantage to have a lot of seniors on our team,” Lorenz said. “We didn’t want to end on a loss.”

Bryant dug out of his own mess in the fifth, striking out the side. Meucci and Carter went down swinging after an error, a passed ball, a walk and a stolen base put Ramblers at second and third.

Bates drew a leadoff walk in the sixth, advanced on a passed ball and raced to third on Harvey’s groundout. Sekerak struck out Richard for the huge second out, then retired Matt Keaney on a bouncer to short and a bang-bang play at first.

“I just wondered if we had blown our opportunities,” Blackman said.

koakes@sunjournal.com