When it mattered the most, Gavin Haggett was at his best.

The Biddeford High senior was his team’s top pitcher for the last three seasons and a varsity hurler since his freshman year. What he and his teammates hadn’t tasted much was success as a team. Until this spring.

With Haggett earning two playoff victories on the mound and hitting .667 with an .750 on-base percentage in the postseason, Biddeford claimed its first Class A championship since 1984, winning its final three games by one run.

In the 2-1 regional final win against Thornton Academy, Haggett avenged a tough regular-season loss with six innings of gritty one-run, five-hit ball. He also drove in the tying run in the fifth inning and singled to aid the winning rally in the seventh. In the state championship game, a 7-6 victory over Mt. Ararat, Haggett’s booming triple to right-center drove in two runs, helping the Tigers dig out of a 3-0 hole. He later drove in the tying run in a two-run, game-winning rally in the sixth inning.

Haggett’s clutch playoff performances on top of an All-State caliber season are why the sturdy 6-foot-2 right-handed pitcher and first baseman is the 2025 Varsity Maine Player of the Year.

“Everyone knew on our team when it was Gavin’s turn, we should win or at least it would be a very close game. When he was on the mound, he gave us a really great chance to win those games,” said Biddeford coach Keith Leblanc. “He was a very underrated offensive player. He had outstanding power. He could hammer the ball to all fields.”

Overshadowed in Class A South by pitchers Erik Swenson of Scarborough and Wyatt Nadeau of Gorham, Haggett admitted he was surprised to be chosen Player of the Year and appreciative that his honor was in large part the result of Biddeford’s team success.

“I thought there were definitely a lot of other kids who could have gotten selected,” said Haggett, who plans to play in college at Division I Stonehill. “This was definitely a fun season. I enjoyed my teammates, enjoyed how we played.”

Haggett was 5-3 with a 1.91 ERA, striking out 75 hitters over 40 1/3 innings. At the plate, he hit .397 with three doubles, three triples and two home runs while driving in 19 runs and scoring 17.

Biddeford’s championship season was a stark turnaround to Haggett’s first three years, during which the Tigers were a combined 14-34.

This year’s club went 12-4 in the regular season, finishing fourth in the Class A South Heal point standings. The Tigers earned a bye to the regional quarterfinals, where they dispatched Kennebunk in five innings. Topping No. 1 Marshwood in 10 innings in the semifinals was a tougher challenge. Then came the rainy nail-biter against Thornton, which washed away any remaining sting from a 14-2 mercy-rule loss at the rival Golden Trojans in the regular season, when Haggett allowed seven runs in the second inning.

“I had a lot more adrenaline in the (playoff rematch), and that helped me,” Haggett said. “The atmosphere, the rain, I like that. It made it more difficult, but it definitely made the game more fun.”

Leblanc, who often caught Haggett’s bullpen sessions, expects his former ace to get even better in college when he switches to a pitcher-only role.

“His stuff … I always felt he was very difficult for me to catch because of the movement of the ball and his velocity,” Leblanc said. “It was very rare for teams to barrel him up. I don’t feel he ever got hit hard in games.”