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STANDISH — The words “free bases” were said often in the Monmouth Academy dugout during the Class C baseball state championship game Saturday at Saint Joseph’s College.

The Mustangs capitalized on walks, errors and passed balls en route to a 9-1 victory over Washington Academy, winning their fourth state title.

Sophomore center fielder Jake Harmon said the team preaches not to make mistakes, and to jump on opponents when they falter.

“We love free bases, you know,” Harmon said. “We always say, you know, when we are on defense and at practice, you give good teams extra bases, bad things will happen. We were able to get some extra bases today.”

The Raiders issued seven walks, made six errors and had two passed balls.

Washington Academy coach Rich Olivares said Monmouth is a good baseball team, and the hiccups from the Raiders (17-3) were a first this season.

We made mistakes that we haven’t made all year, but credit to them,” Olivares said. “They put pressure on us that forced those mistakes.”

Harmon had a big game for Monmouth (16-4) both at the plate and in the field. He collected three hits, including an RBI double, threw out a runner at home plate, and made a leaping catch.

“Jake has just been doing it,” Monmouth coach Eric Palleschi said. “At the beginning of the year, he put a lot of pressure on himself, (and) tried to do a little too much. Now, he’s gotten back to just being Jake. We didn’t need him to do everything; we just needed him to be himself. You know, just go out there and perform and execute, and he did.”

Monmouth pitcher Kyle LePage went the distance, allowing five hits and three walks while striking out five.

LePage knew he had to give the Mustangs a good outing with ace Levi Laverdiere unable to pitch after throwing 109 pitches in Tuesday’s regional final against Mt. Abram.

“Once that last game was done, I knew I had to come in there and throw my best game, and that’s what I tried to do,” LePage said.

Palleschi credited catcher Noah Schultz for blocking pitches, not only in the state final but throughout the postseason.

“Noah did a great job behind the plate,” Palleschi said. “Kyle was able to bounce some pitches; I don’t think Noah had a passed ball. I think he went through the whole postseason without one, which, I mean, people don’t understand how huge that is.”

Daniel Gardner worked a walk to start the top of the second inning for Washington Academy, then stole second and third. With one out, Parker Cates flew out to Harmon in center field. Harmon threw home to Schultz, who applied the tag on Gardner in time for the third out.

Olivares said from his angle, Gardner beat the tag.

“I mean, it is what it is. But (the umpires) do the best they can,” Olivares said. “It’s a tough job and we’re grateful that we have umpires that are willing to spend these Saturday afternoons with these kids.”

LePage said defensive plays throughout the game helped him find the plate.

“It just made it easy to throw strikes, knowing that behind me, they’ll field anything,” LePage said. “It was so much easier to throw strikes.”

Monmouth loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the second, then Washington starter Trevor Shimabukuro walked Tyler Johnson to force in Schultz. Shimabukuro got out of the inning with a double play and a flyout.

The Mustangs extended their lead in the bottom of the third. Harmon doubled to drive home Laverdiere, then stole third and came in to score on a wild throw.

“(Shimabukuro) just threw me a fastball up, so I pulled my hands in, just let it rip, and luckily it went over the guy’s head, but it just feels amazing,” Harmon said.

Monmouth capitalized on mistakes by the Raiders to add two runs in the fourth. Sam Schultz singled and scored on a passed ball. Bryce Fletcher scored on an error after a sacrifice bunt by Zane Foyt.

Mike Taylor hit an RBI double in the top of the fifth to put the Raiders on the board.

Washington pitchers issued five walks in the bottom of the fifth, however, and the Mustangs added three runs for an 8-1 lead. Foyt had an RBI single.

Rory Foyt hit an RBI double in the sixth.

Harmon said team chemistry helped bring another championship to Monmouth.

“We just have fun,” Harmon said. We work hard. We push ourselves in practice. We just have a fun time doing it. We love to compete.”