STANDISH — The Freeport High School baseball team had played in a lot of close games this year on its way to winning the Class B South region, and Saturday’s State Final against Ellsworth was no different. 

Starting pitcher Matt Burnett’s sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth broke a scoreless tie as the Ellsworth righty pitched a three-hit shutout as the Eagles clipped the Falcons, 2-0 at Larry Mahaney Diamond at St. Joseph’s College. 

The senior hurler fanned eight and walked three as Freeport managed only one runner to reach as far as third base during the contest. 

“He’s a great pitcher,” Freeport coach Kyle Goodrich said. “He pitched a heck of a game and won that game for them. We tried to do anything we could to get him out of rhythm.” 

Ellsworth finished 19-1, while Freeport ended the season 16-4. 

Burnett and Freeport starter Shea Wagner each retired the first three batters in order to open the game. Burnett led off the top of the second with an infield hit to deep third and Hunter Curtis followed with a single to right. But Wagner retired the next three hitters leaving both Burnett and Curtis on base. 

Ellsworth once again put the leadoff batter on base in the third after Riley Grindle singled to left, but was picked off two pitches later by Freeport catcher Ericksen Shea. After a two-out error, Jackson Curtis lined out to third baseman Liam Holt for the final out. 

Falcons right fielder Blaine Cockburn hit a one-out single in the home half of the third but was erased on a steal attempt when he was tagged out when he was unable to keep his foot on the bag as his slid past it. The play was big as Wagner followed by reaching base after striking out on a wild pitch and Heath Cockburn walked. But Burnett struck out the next hitter to end the threat. 

Hunter Curtis and Conner Wagstaff hit back-to-back singles in the fourth. After a fielder’s choice for the second out of the inning, Shea walked Nathan Smith to load the bases. But the senior right-

hander caught the next hitter looking at strike three to leave the sacks loaded, a total of six through four innings for the Eagles. 

Wagner began the fifth on the hill and the Eagles quickly strung together three straight hits with a single by Tyler Mitchell, a push bunt that rolled past the pitcher by Devin Grindle, and a Jackson Curtis single to the outfield that was too hard to score Mitchell, once again loading the bases 

Goodrich lifted Shea, who gave up eight hits while striking out one and walking one for Blaine Cockburn.  

“Shea gave it all he got. They’re a good-hitting team and he battled,” Goodrich said. 

Burnett promptly greeted the Freeport pitcher with a fly ball to center, deep enough to score Mitchell from third. 

With runners on first and third, Jackson Curtis stole second and on the throw attempt, Devin Grindle broke for home, beating Heath Cockburn’s throw to the plate for the second run. 

Hunter Curtis reached first after striking out on a passed ball before Blaine Cockburn fanned the next two hitters to end the inning. 

The freshman lefty retired six of the next seven hitters he faced, finishing with three innings pitched, striking out six and walking one. 

Junior Gabe Wagner earned a two-out walk off Burnett in the sixth and stole second. After Anthony Panciocco followed with a walk, both he and Wagner moved up with aggressive base running to put a pair in scoring position. 

But the Ellsworth senior induced a fly ball to left as Matt Palmer back peddled to catch the ball for the final out. 

“That was a great effort by Freeport and we answered the bell,” Ellsworth coach Daniel Curtis said. “We played great defense and the game was how we’ve played all season. It was nice to end it that way.” 

Burnett retired all three batters he faced in the bottom of the seventh, including a called third strike to end the game. 

“This is unreal,” said Burnett. “We’ve been working for this for so long.” 

For Freeport, words were hard to come by after an amazing season coming to an end. Shea offered up some. 

“It’s not the way we wanted to end it,” the senior captain said. “We wanted it real bad, it just wasn’t our day. They are a good team.” 

Goodrich left the field proud of his team. 

“It’s hard to take, seeing these guys want something so bad and not be able to get it, but I can’t say enough about these guys and I’m proud of them,” the Freeport coach said.