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AUGUSTA — Dominant pitchers. Clutch hits. Countless big defensive plays. Two of the state’s best players going toe-to-toe. This Class B North semifinal was a baseball fan’s dream.

It took everything Cony had to shake a Mount Desert Island team that always seemed to have answers on Saturday at Morton Field. Yet the Rams did shake the Trojans, prevailing 2-1 in a thrilling showdown to advance to the B North title game on Tuesday at the University of Maine.

“It’s a group of kids that love baseball,” said Cony coach Don Plourde, whose team will face No. 4 Hermon (13-5). “They want to keep playing, and they made plays when they needed to to get it done.”

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Cony’s Landen Perry and MDI’s Colin Sullivan were both brilliant on the mound. Perry pitched a complete game with 10 strikeouts, while Sullivan, a University of Georgetown commit whose fastball has been clocked at 94 mph, fanned seven and allowed just two hits.

“Landen was amazing on the mound,” Plourde said. “He’s our ace and our No. 1 guy, and he wants the baseball. He really stepped it up big-time for us today, and I’m proud of him and happy for him.”

• Sullivan allowed one of his two hits to Parker Morin, whose two-run double in the bottom of the fifth inning gave No. 2 Cony (16-2) a one-run lead after MDI had scored in the top half. Sullivan had previously struck out Morin in the first inning and forced him to fly out in the third. Both players are Winkin Award finalists.

“It’s fun to play against guys like that and compete,” Morin, who is batting .619, said of Sullivan, who in addition to his strong pitching finished the year with a .622 batting average. “He’s providing all the power you need, so you kind of just stay with your mechanics and put the barrel through the zone, and good things will happen.”

• Both teams were outstanding defensively. That started with No. 3 MDI (12-6) turning hard-hit line drives into two double plays, one of which came in the third inning when Alex Roos made a leaping catch before diving to double off Anderson Noyes at third base.

The deciding defensive plays, though, were made by Morin. With one out in the top of the seventh, the senior shortstop ran all the way from his position near the second base bag to catch a funky pop fly near the third base line. Then, with runners on first and third, he tagged Cam Graham in a rundown to seal the win.

WHAT IT MEANS

• Cony reaches a much-awaited Northern Maine title game. The Rams lost in the B North semifinals as the No. 1 seed last year and as the No. 2 seed in 2023. They also lost to MDI in the quarterfinals in 2024 and to Oceanside in the prelims in 2022. On all four occasions, Cony was the higher seed.

“It’s a little bit of uncharted territory, but with that said, it feels great,” Plourde said. “We’re going to enjoy this victory, but like I told the guys, ‘Do what you need to do this weekend to get ready — if you need extra reps come get them — and then Monday, we’ll be right back at it.”

NOTABLE QUOTABLES

• “It was (just about) pounding the zone and trusting the guys behind me. … (The goal against Sullivan is) keeping it outside because I don’t want him to pull anything. That’s where he hit it the hardest.” — Landen Perry

• “We finally broke through that (semifinal) barrier. I told the guys (in the sixth inning after we took the lead) that we had two more innings to work to earn another seven, and now, we have another seven innings of work to earn another seven.” — Parker Morin

STAT LEADERS

• MDI: Colin Sullivan (L, 6 IP, 2 ER, 7 K, 4 BB, 2 HA; 3B, 1B, RBI), Preston Tripp (2 1B)

• Cony: Landen Perry (W, CG, ER, 10 K, 3 BB, 5 HA), Parker Morin (2B, 2 RBI)