BANGOR – With his pitch count well over 100 and two runners on, Nick Woods of Richmond needed an out in the worst way Saturday.

He got one with a looping curveball that caught Garrett Stiles looking at a third strike to give the Bobcats a 7-4 victory over Central Aroostook for the Class D baseball state title.

Woods somehow gutted out a 124-pitch effort that gave his team its first title since 1996.

“I was running on adrenaline,” Woods said. “I just wanted to win.”

Richmond made the most of four hits, all singles, as Central Aroostook’s defense and pitching fell apart in the fifth and sixth innings. The Bobcats (15-4) trailed 2-1 when Panthers starter Logan McLaughlin walked Josh Rice and Woods on nine pitches to begin the fifth.

“He ran out of gas,” said Central Aroostook Coach Brent York, who replaced McLaughlin with Mitch Folsom. “We got out of it the first couple of innings, then we dug ourselves a hole in the fifth and sixth innings.”

The Panthers gave up three runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth. Woods had the only hit over that span.

A hit batter, walk and an error led to three runs in the fifth, and a walk and three straight errors allowed the Bobcats to add three runs in the sixth.

The Panthers (16-4) committed five errors, walked nine and hit two batters. They averaged 14 runs per game this season and finished with 10 hits, but never fully solved Woods, who keep them off balance with off-speed pitches.

“We’ve seen two lefties, probably a total of three innings,” York said. “A couple of guys couldn’t handle the curveball. The slow stuff has been our problem this year.”