MANCHESTER — Derrick Sylvester was stuck in his first true jam of the afternoon. Runners on the corners. No outs. Campbell's cleanup hitter stepping to the plate.

Franklin High School's one-run lead was under siege in the sixth inning Saturday. But for all the pressure-filled moments this postseason, the Golden Tornadoes always found a way.

Sylvester retired three consecutive batters to end Campbell's sixth-inning threat, and the top-seeded Tornadoes closed their wild tournament run with a 2-1 win in Manchester, capturing their first Class M baseball title in 25 years.

Sylvester, known as Sly by coaches and teammates, finished his brilliant high school career with a complete-game, allowing just four hits, a walk and a hit batter. He finished with six strikeouts, but he closed the game with his glove, tracking down a flared bunt off the bat of Dan Taschereau moments before getting mobbed by teammates.

"I almost dropped it," Sylvester said of the final out. "I went to come back up with it and it was in the palm of my glove. I was just like, 'Alight, now we can go (celebrate).'"

Franklin's championship season closed at 19-1 overall, including playoff victories over No. 16 Stevens, No. 9 Newport, No. 5 Berlin and No. 2 Campbell (18-2). The Class M Player of the Year was a big piece of the puzzle. Sylvester closed the 2009 playoffs with a 3-0 record, allowing just two runs and five hits with 19 strikeouts in 16 tournament innings.

"This was our last hurrah because graduation was last night," Sylvester said. "We wanted to end on a good note and you can't end it any better than this."

Franklin scrapped together runs in the third and fourth innings to take a 2-0 lead, but Campbell had Sylvester and the Tornadoes in a bind in the sixth. Gabe Williams drew a lead-off walk and moved all the way to third when a miscommunication allowed Jacob Lang's bunt to roll untouched between first and second. John Coughlin then carved a single to right that easily scored Williams for Campbell's first run.

The entire Franklin infield huddled with coach Tom Charbono at the mound. Runners remained at the corners with no outs and the Cougars were a hit or two from spinning the game in their favor.

Alan MacRae photo Franklin's Nick Grevior, left, slides into second base makes it safely onto second base during Saturday's Class M championship game in Manchester.

"I didn't mind if the run from third scored and it's a tie ballgame," said Charbono, who kept his infield back even with the runner at third. "I just didn't want it to get out of hand and have them take the lead. I looked at Sly and I said, 'You've got to buckle down. You've got to take care of business here.'"

Sylvester fanned cleanup hitter Tyler Bonin and got Cullan Baker to line an apparent squeeze bunt attempt to Abe Muniz at short for the second out. He got Bobby Frappier swinging to hold the 2-1 lead a batter later on a curve in the dirt.

"First and third with no outs is tough," Franklin third baseman John Pickowicz said. "We were talking to Sly and we knew that he'd come through under pressure. There wasn't a doubt in my mind he was going to get us out of it."

The seventh inning was drama free. Sylvester opened the frame with a quick strikeout, Pickowicz made a play on a grounder to third and Taschereau's bunt blooper back to the mound triggered a celebration Franklin and its nine seniors have been dreaming about for some time.

"Sly didn't catch it very easily there," Charbono said. "It looked odd. It was just a great feeling. They pig piled there and I caught (assistant coach Bill Prescott's) eye and we hugged. We've been together 15 years."

Baker, only a sophomore, kept his team in it. He allowed five hits and three walks with six strikeouts in defeat. The Cougars committed two errors behind him, but they were costly, helping Franklin score both of its runs.

"There's no loser in that game," Campbell coach Jim Gorham said. "Maybe on the scoreboard, but not when you have a sophomore matching a soon-to-be Division I NCAA pitcher inning for inning. The kids were out there working their tails off. It's a tough loss, but we'll be back."

Franklin pushed the game's first run across in the bottom of the third. No. 9 hitter Nick Gosselin drew a one-out walk, stole second base as Baker made a pick-off throw to first and scored when Brian Morrill — Franklin's Mr. Clutch in the tournament — punched a single to shallow center that slipped under Frappier for a two-base error.

The Tornadoes tacked on a second run and threatened for more in the fourth. Pickowicz slapped a one-out single to right and scampered into scoring position as the ball kicked off Lang's glove and rolled toward foul territory. Pickowicz scored two batters later with two outs, crossing the plate standing as the throw home from Muniz's sharp single to left skipped away from Bonin, Campbell's catcher.

"That experience helped us all the way through the lineup," Charbono said. "All the seniors."

The experience of Wednesday night's semifinal win didn't hurt, either. The Tornadoes trailed by two and were down to their final strike when Morrill lined a two-run double to the gap in deep left center to tie it. Sylvester doubled home Morrill in the bottom of the ninth for a walk-off win that looked lost for six innings.

Now it's just a memory in a season that was meant to be.

"We kind of felt like destiny was on our side," Franklin catcher Nate Kaplan said. "We felt like if we could pull out that one, we could pull out anything."

Franklin, 2-1

Campbell (18-2) 000 001 0 — 1 4 2

Franklin (19-1) 001 100 x — 2 5 1

Batteries: C-Baker and Bonin; F-Sylvester and Kaplan. WP-Sylvester (3-0). LP-Baker (1-1). LOB: C-5, F-4.