SACO — The SMAA baseball game between once-beaten Portland and once-beaten Thornton Academy seemed like a dress rehearsal for the upcoming playoffs.

Four lead changes. Three ties. A left fielder making the pivot at second base on a critical double play. A successful double steal to score the tying run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

And all that set the stage for a walk-off single by Evan Balzano with one out in the ninth to give Thornton Academy a 5-4 victory.

“It’s a good character tester,” said Trojans Coach Ray Petit, whose team rallied from two down in the seventh to tie.

“That’s two real good teams going at each other,” said Portland Coach Mike Rutherford.

Thornton Academy (9-1) ended matters with consecutive one-out singles in the ninth by Brogan Searle-Belanger, Ben Lambert and Balzano.

“I was just looking for something over the plate,” said Balzano, who had been hitless with an intentional walk in his previous four at-bats. “Right before I came up, Coach told me to end it. Luckily I got a good pitch to hit, first pitch.”

John Williams of Portland and Benjamin Lambert of Thornton Academy try to help an umpire make a call as Lambert is called out at first to end the fifth inning. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Portland (9-2) appeared to have victory in hand after breaking a 2-2 tie in the top of the seventh. Dom Tocci started the rally with a one-out single. After a flyout, Nick Archambault singled to left and Joe Fusco singled up the middle for a 3-2 lead.

Jack Nichols then delivered his fourth straight hit to make it 4-2 and spell the end for Lambert, the Thornton starter. Freshman Luke Chessie moved to the mound from shortstop and took a comebacker from Zach Fortin off the leg. Lambert, at shortstop, gathered in the carom and made the out at first to prevent two more runs from scoring.

“That could have been 6-2,” Rutherford said. “There’s so many things in baseball you could talk about, but we’ve got to make plays and we’ve got to close out games.”

The Trojans, who trailed Cheverus in the bottom of the seventh earlier this season, started their rally with help from an error. Chessie then hit into a force and Searle-Belanger followed with a single. A wild pitch moved the runners to second and third.

A Lambert comebacker struck Portland starter Charles Barnard in the leg, but instead of leading to an out, the carom angled sharply enough to give Lambert a single that scored Chessie to make it 4-3 and put runners at the corners.

When Lambert broke for second base on an attempted steal, the Bulldogs set up a cut-off between the mound and second in hopes of catching Searle-Belanger off third. Instead the throw skipped through and Searle-Belanger scampered home to make it 4-4.

An intentional walk and a sharp single by Adam Gibbons filled the bases, prompting Rutherford to station Fortin, his left fielder, almost on top of second as a fifth infielder.

“That’s something we actually work on,” he said. “With the bases loaded and one out, we don’t have to go to the plate.”

Indeed, shortstop Jake Knop fielded a sharp grounder and flipped to Fortin, who relayed to first baseman John Williams to end the inning.

“This sends a message throughout the league,” Balzano said. “We’re actually a contender this year.”

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