Middletown – East Lyme waited for the bust down the door, breakthrough hit on Saturday night.

It never came.

The 13th-seeded Vikings stumbled short of completing their memorable postseason run, dropping a 3-2 decision to another unlikely finalist in No. 22 North Haven in the CIAC Class L state championship baseball game at Palmer Field.

They put runners on base in all but one inning and outhit the Indians 10-5, but stranded 11 and had a player thrown out at home. They were attempting to win their first state title since 1989.

"I'm proud of what they were able to accomplish," East Lyme coach Jack Biggs said. "It was a magical run. Unfortunately, it didn't go our way."

Trailing 3-1, the Vikings made some noise in their last at-bat. Senior Sam Gonski's one-out single drove in Michael Morgan, who led off to a single, to cut the deficit to one.

But the game ended with Vikings standing on first and third, as Miles Coe took a called third strike from reliever Rich DePalma. Gonski, who finished with three hits and a walk, had a good view of the North Haven celebrating their title since 2003.

"As soon as I got to third, I just felt like we were going to breakthrough," Gonski said. "It didn't happen. We fought a hell of a fight. North Haven is a great team. ... We put up 10 hits, but it's a shame that we couldn't break through with the big ones."

So many good things happened during East Lyme's postseason. The Vikings weren't expected to go deep in the tournament but kept piling up impressive win after impressive win. Senior pitcher C.J. Leindecker won two games and saved two.

Leindecker also gave the Vikings a chance to win the game Saturday by pitching four scoreless innings in relief of starter Dylan Feeney, who took the loss.

North Haven rode the pitching of starter Mike Kurk, who danced in and out of trouble, and DePalma. Junior Mike DeRosa was the offensive and defensive hero. His two-run home run highlighted a three-run second inning.

Then, for the second time in the postseason, DeRosa threw out a runner at the plate.

In the sixth, Coe and Bennett Coe led off with back-to-back singles and advanced to second and third on Matthew Abbey's sacrifice bunt.

Matt Spang lifted a fly ball to relatively deep left field where DeRosa caught it and uncorked a looping throw to the plate. Catcher Nick Proto tagged sliding pinch-runner Corey Levesque for a rally-killing double play.

"I just used all my arm strength to throw him out," DeRosa said.

The Indians made the most out of their five hits, three of which came in the second. Hunter Iacobelli added an RBI groundout. The Indians carried an 11-10 record into postseason and then won five straight.

"Unbelievable," North Haven coach Bob DeMayo said. "The baseball gods were with us."

Missed scoring opportunities cost the Vikings dearly.

They wasted Miles Coe's leadoff double in the second. They left the bases loaded in the third and didn't score after putting two on with one out in the fifth.

"We really believed that we were going to open it up, because we had bases loaded and had runners on," Biggs said. "But we just couldn't get that big hit when we needed it."

East Lyme scored only one run in the first inning after loading the bases on Spang's walk and singles by Logan Banker and Gonski. Owen Tretter's sacrifice fly made it 1-0.

It was just the beginning of a frustrating offensive night for the Vikings.

East Lyme walked off the field disappointed but also feeling good about their season.

"I'm always going to remember this team and this group of guys," Gonski said. "We say after every game that we're a family and we love each other."

g.keefe@theday.com

Twitter: @GavinKeefe