ATHOL — The weather might have moved the Bi-County League North title game between the Athol and Franklin Tech baseball teams from its scheduled location of Dunkin’ Park in Hartford to Athol, but that didn’t make the game any less important.

The game at Dunkin’ Park between the two squads was moved due to weather earlier in the year and the rain on Friday prevented the game from taking place in the minor league stadium, but with the Bears and Eagles entering the game with identical 6-1 records in league play, both teams were locked in from the jump. 

It was Athol’s Logan Cormier who proved to be the difference, as he hit a two-run home run to give the Bears the opening lead in the fourth, and on the mound, the senior went the distance and gave up just five hits while striking out six to give Athol the league title with a 4-1 victory. 

“This group has worked incredibly hard for four years,” Bear coach Josh Talbot said. “Most of these kids didn’t play youth baseball. We’ve built this from the ground up with these 18 kids. They’ve worked so hard. It’s an awesome feeling. We were here last year and had this same opportunity but let it slip away. We definitely wanted this today and it’s a crowning achievement of incredibly hard work from these guys the last four years. You can’t take that away from them.” 

To show how much winning the league meant to both teams, look no further than who they each pitched on Friday. 

With the Western Mass. tournament pushed back — and factoring pitch count rules — both Talbot and Franklin Tech coach Dan Prasol had a decision to make of whether to throw their ace in Wednesday’s opening round of the Western Mass. tournament or save them on Friday.

Even after the Bears pulled off an upset and advanced to play Drury in the Class C semifinals on Monday, Talbot still decided to pitch Cormier against Tech while the Eagles threw their ace, Mason Lehtomaki, as well. 

“It wasn’t an easy decision,” Talbot said. “We were prepared to go a different route today but in the end, all year I’ve been saying we need to take care of the game ahead of us. We didn’t do that against Drury (25-1 loss) the first time. We got cute and we have no idea how we match up with them. We’re excited to have this today and we’re excited for what’s ahead. This is a really good baseball team. We didn’t have Logan on the mound against Lenox [in the Class C quarterfinals] but we decided to pound out 15 hits. We’re eager to see where it goes.”

Though disappointed in the loss, Prasol said he was proud of the fight his team showed and noted that Franklin Tech (10-9) still has a chance to go on a run in the state tournament. 

“Hats off to Athol,” Prasol said. “Baseball is a game of inches and a couple balls go one way or another and it could be different. I’m proud of the kids for how they competed. Hats off to Mason Lehtomaki, he threw a phenomenal game. We’re not done.” 

Going into the fourth inning both teams had just one hit — a single from Eagle Hunter Donahue in the first and a double from Bear Alex Lavigne in the first — but neither team had anything to show for it on the scoreboard. 

Cormier changed that in the fourth. Lavigne singled and Cormier followed with a two-run blast to left field that gave Athol the opening 2-0 lead of the game. 

“It felt amazing off the bat,” Cormier said. “It was a long at bat and I fouled a lot of pitches off. I was sitting on the curveball. I’m not a good off-speed hitter but I sat on it and drove it. Our bats didn’t start off hot but that was a nice morale boost.” 

The Bears tacked on two in the fifth. Oliver Johnson singled and later scored on a double from Raydin Sousa. A pick-off throw to get Sousa at second sailed into the outfield and the throw to get him at third went out of play, allowing Sousa to score and make it a 4-0 game. 

Franklin Tech got one back in the sixth. Donahue singled, swiped second and George Gutierrez knocked a single to drive him home and cut the lead to 4-1. The Eagles went on to load the bases after Gavin Crossman walked and Zadrien Alamed reached on a dropped third strike but Cormier recorded a flyout to end the inning without any additional damage done. 

Cormier struck out two in the seventh to seal the win. 

It was missed opportunities with runners in scoring position that did the Eagles in on Friday, stranding a runner in scoring position in four of the seven innings. Lehtomaki went the distance on the mound, striking out five and allowing seven hits. 

Athol nearly won the Bi-County North title a year ago, falling to Turners in the final regular season game to hand the title to the Thunder. 

Cormier made sure that wouldn’t be the case again this year. 

“This means everything to me,” Cormier said. “Since eighth grade we’ve wanted this. Losing the heartbreaker to Turners in this game last year was tough. I teared up and put everything on the line. It started with this group of guys coming back this year and putting it all on the line every day.”

Talbot thanked his players and assistant coaches for all the hard work they’ve put it, noting they have a long way to go with a Western Mass. semifinal and the state tournament coming up. 

“I’m lucky to coach this group and have Matt [Tablot] and Henry [King] with me. You can’t do it alone and the kids can’t do it alone. We’ve all been in this for four years together. That includes them and these kids. This recognizes all the hard work that’s gone into this.”