Souhegan's Ethan Gaudet celebrates with catcher Joe Mayo after the final out of the Sabers' 4-3 Division II title win over John Stark at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

MANCHESTER – Mission accomplished.

To be sure, the bus ride back from Northeast Delta Dental Stadium to Amherst Saturday night was a much different and louder journey than the ones the Souhegan High School baseball team took 53 weeks ago.

Back then they had the bitter feeling of a championship game drubbing. Last night they had the euphoria of a championship victory.

The Sabers, who didn’t lose a Division II game all season, made their determination work in their favor as they edged No. 2 John Stark Regional 4-3 for the program’s third title.

“This is the hardest working group of kids we’ve had since I’ve been here,” said Saber senior Matt Silk, who drove in the eventual winning runs with a double. “We’ve all been pretty committed to this the entire season. All our hard work finally paid off and we got it. I had a good feeling from the start, and we finally finished it. It’s awesome.”

With just about everyone back from that team that lost in last year’s finals, the Sabers zipped through the regular season, had two dominant tourney wins and finished 20-1. Their only loss was to Division I Dover in Cooperstown, N.Y.

“That was our goal, as soon as we left here last June 8 at 12:30, we talked about it every day,” head coach Chris Metz said. “We didn’t shy from it. We didn’t listen to anybody else, we knew where we wanted to be. These kids busted their butts to be back here.”

It started off a little slow for Souhegan, as Hickman couldn’t find the plate early. He walked the game’s first two hitters, Joey Dykstra and Chase Philibotte, they both came around to score on an infield hit by Aidan Williams and an RBI ground out off the bat of Ryder Brown. Just like that, it was 2-0 Generals.

Not to worry.

“Our boys have been in games like this,” Metz said. “We’re battle tested. It helps out tremendously because we’ve been in games like this.

“It was the first inning. We’ve got a whole game, right? We’ve got to jump into it. We’ve got six innings to go.”

Brayden Hickman delivers a pitch in the first inning of Saturday night’s Division II title game in Manchester. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

“Obviously the first inning didn’t go according to Souhegan’s plan, or my plan either,” Hickman, who struck out seven and walked four and hit a batter, said. “Just going out there and trusting my fielder when maybe my stuff wasn’t at its peak performance, and being able to trust them to get the outs for me was a huge part – and kept me in the game really.”

“We knew we were going to come in here and have nerves, right,” Metz said. “That’s part of any sport we played, it’s part of life, too, right? Come into a big stage like this, we’re going to be nervous. We knew we were going to get the right Hickman, it just took a little longer.”

But it didn’t take Souhegan long to answer as Silk walked and Hickman singled, and Silk came around to score on an infield throwing error.

“They’re the type of team you can’t make a mistake against,” John Stark coach Dennis Pelletier said. “Unfortunately this was one of our poorest defensive games in quite a while.I think the bright lights affected both teams. … We had a couple of big plays that we could’ve made and they just weren’t made. Souhegan made them. That’s the difference in the ball game. … But in all of that, it was a one-run ball game.”

One of those plays came after a two-out Drew Reagan RBI single tied the game at 2 in the bottom of the second. Souhegan’s Silk followed with a drive deep into the left-center gap with two on off Stark hurler Chase Philibotte. It looked like somehow the Generals’ Hayden Pond had run it down in center field, the ball landing in his glove for a great catch – until it ended up on the ground. Even Silk, who was given a double, thought he was out.

“I heard the change in tone between the crowds,” Silk said. “I kind thought it was an out so I put my head down and started jogging. Then I heard my side go crazy and I looked up it was on the ground. Pretty good feeling, really. I’ll take it.”

What he’ll take were the two runs that scored to make it a 4-2 game.

“I thought he had it,” Pelletier said. “Not many guys can even get to that ball, so the fact that he got there was an amazing athletic play. … That would’ve been an incredible catch.”

“Look what happens when we put the ball in play,” Metz said. “We hit the ball hard all over the park (five hits on the night). We put ball in play, and we jump on and execute when they make a mistake. That’s what high school baseball’s about.”

The Generals (17-3) would get to within a run, 4-3 in the fifth on Williams’ second RBI hit of the game and had the tying and go-ahead runs on in the sixth thanks to two more Hickman walks. But he got Joey Dykstra to pop to Silk at second to end the threat.

In the top of the seven, Hickman got two quick outs but then Metz emerged from the dugout to go to the mound. The senior with 120 pitches had reached, or was close to his pitch limit by rule, and that meant he would have to leave the game. In the end, it worked to perfection because Metz replaced him with righty Ethan Gaudet, who won five games on the mound this year. But the junior Gaudet was the starter who suffered the 13-3 loss in last year’s finals. This time, he was on the mound for the final out of a championship, a fly ball off the bat of LaClair that Saber left fielder Mike Fiengo made a charging, leaning catch to clinch the title.

The Souhegan baseball team celebrates its Division II champiionship win over John Stark in Manchester. (Telegrah photo by TOM KING)

Gaudet got the word he’d be needed back in the fifth inning.

“It makes it all worth it,” he said of the pain of last year replaced with the joy of a championship. “It was all leading up to this. Everything we’ve done was for this. We’ve been talking about it since Day One.”

“There’s no better way to go out than on a win, especially on a championship,” Hickman said. “…Getting the championship was everyone’s goal, and it’s awesome.”