ORRINGTON — Clutch.

That one simple word can mean the difference between playing for a state championship or going home.

The Biddeford 11-12 year old All- Stars proved they are indeed clutch as they used timely hits and shutdown pitching to earn a 4-3 win over Lewiston on Thursday and secured a trip to the state finals.

Down 2-0 after two innings, the Biddeford club responded in the third. Sean Gonneville started the rally with a single up the middle and Will Harriman followed that with a line drive hit. Ashton Crowell would bring home Gonneville with an RBI single and Harriman later scored on a passed ball to tie the game.

The local All-Stars weren’t done yet as Crowell would score on an RBI single from Kyle Dion, which gave Biddeford its first lead of the game at 3-2 .

The lead wouldn’t last long as Lewiston would tie the game on a single from Dave Morin and a sacrifice fly from Noah Hill.

Biddeford would retake the lead in the top of the fifth when Crowell singled and reached third after the ball got past the Lewiston outfielders. Dion came up big once again as he smashed a single off the left field wall to score Crowell and give Biddeford a 4-3 lead.

For most teams a one-run lead is not very safe, but Biddeford had brought on Harriman to pitch in the bottom of the fourth – and the Tigers’ ace would show why he’s one of the top pitchers in the state.

Harriman, who got out of a two-on, no-out jam he had inherited in the fourth, worked around a leadoff single in the fifth to hold onto the slim lead.

Biddeford failed to put any more runs on the board in the top of the sixth, which meant Harriman and the Tigers’ defense had very little breathing room.

Harriman struck out the first two batters of the inning, but Andrew Letourneau would single to keep Lewiston alive. With the winning run at the plate, the Biddeford hurler slammed the door with his sixth strikeout of the day and sent the Tigers to the state championship game.

Harriman’s goal heading into the bottom of the sixth was pretty simple: get three outs.

“I just felt like, three more outs and we’re going to the state championship again, and just go get them,” said Harriman

The Biddeford coaching staff would have loved to save Harriman’s arm for Friday’s state title game, but they also knew it was a must-win game.

“We had a lot of confidence in him. It was a very tough decision, whether to pull our pitcher and bring him in, or wait and see if we could get some outs and hold off on bringing Will in, but he came in and did an excellent job,” said coach Marcus Crowell. “You’ve got to take one game at a time and go out there and try to win the game that you’re in and that’s exactly what we did.”

Harriman’s teammates had confidence that he would get the job done.

“(We were) very confident. Will is a phenomenal pitcher,” said Ashton Crowell.

With the win, Biddeford earns a rematch with Scarborough – a team that rolled to a 19-7 win over the Tigers on Tuesday.

While the final score was lopsided, Marcus Crowell knows his team has the ability to compete with the tough Scarborough squad.

“We won the first two innings against Scarborough. Of course the score was a little lopsided at the end, but if you paid attention early in the game, we won the first two innings,” said coach Crowell. “We are really going to build off that, we are going to focus on that, our approach is really good at the plate and we’re going to have that same approach.”

The Biddeford players have plenty of confidence heading into the rematch.

“We are pretty confident … I think we can get them this time,” said Harriman.

“We feel we can win this as much as Scarborough can,” added Ashton Crowell.

“I think we have a chance to win states,” said Kyle Dion, who was proud of how the Tigers bounced back from Tuesday’s loss. “It was a good game, a good team win and it just feels great.”

Dion will get the start in Friday’s game and, just like with Harriman, the Biddeford coaches have plenty of faith in his ability to get the job done.

“We have the utmost confidence in Kyle Dion. Every game he’s pitched so far, he’s pitched well. He’s a kid that can locate, he frustrates hitters and he’s a gamer. He’ll go out there and compete until the very last out,” said coach Crowell.

Biddeford will need to beat Scarborough twice to win the state championship. Marcus Crowell knows it will be a challenge, but he has confidence in this year’s team because they were in a similar position two years ago during the 9-10 year old district tournament.

“Two years ago, we were in a situation where we got embarrassed by a Kennebunk team, I believe we lost 11-0, so what I did as a coach was try to explain to them that we were able to bounce back after a really devastating loss … we came back and beat an Alfred/Lyman team and we were able to come back and beat Kennebunk in the first round of the championship series and force the what-if game,” said Marcus Crowell. “A lot of those kids that were on that team then, are on this team now, and we are in a much better position this year than we were two years ago.”

The Biddeford coach knows his team will need to once again come up with clutch hits in order to get the job done against Scarborough.

“Scarborough is a team that can definitely hit the baseball, so we’re going to have to have those big innings. We’re going to have to put hits together, we’re going to have to be smart on the base paths and really take advantage of every opportunity they give us,” said Marcus Crowell.

NOTES: Biddeford’s Kalvin Camire, who tossed the first 1 1/3 innings, added a double and a single in the win and Gonneville went 1 2/3 innings on the mound before Harriman took over … Biddeford’s Nick Littlefield would reach on a bunt single in the fourth inning … Tonight’s championship game is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., but there is a chance of thunderstorms in the Bangor area … If Biddeford can force a second game, it would be played at noon on Saturday.

— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.