Groton — By the end of the day, there was a three-way tie for the four-team Div. I baseball championship within the Eastern Connecticut Conference.

That sentence alone might elicit a chuckle.

Just not to Fitch High School coach Brian McGugan.

"Honestly," he said Thursday night standing on his home field, "it's like winning a state championship in a way. So many guys have stepped up. We weren't supposed to be here."

But after a 3-2 win over Waterford, the Falcons (4-2 in the division) shared the title with Waterford and East Lyme, which defeated Norwich Free Academy 7-1 earlier in the day.

"If you had told me at the beginning of the season we'd be here, I'd have said you were crazy. I was thinking rebuilding," McGugan said.

Fitch lost two of its best players — Giovanni Valentine and Tyler Nelli — to injury before the season began. That left McGugan searching for offense. He had no idea his team would take down top 10 teams Ledyard and Southington along the way.

Maybe that's why the Falcons (12-7 overall) posed for a team photo after the game. It was almost hard to fathom Waterford achieved the same thing: a division title.

"Means nothing," Waterford coach Art Peluso said. "You know what means something? Winning a state championship. And we'll get this figured out."

The Lancers (11-7 overall) trailed 1-0 in the fifth, again failing to provide starter Jared Burrows with run support. Burrows had lost games 1-0 to Ledyard and 2-0 to East Lyme in recent weeks. But in the fifth, Cadin Maynard's two-out, two-run single gave Waterford a 2-1 lead and hope for a division title outright.

But after Daniel Mojica led off the bottom of the fifth with a long single, the Lancers botched a double play ball that eventually led to Tyler Cady's dunk shot single with two outs that scored two runs and have Fitch the lead. Winning pitcher Nick Helbig took it from there, finishing with a complete game six-hitter.

"Frustration isn't going to correct anything," Peluso said. "We need to have better at bats and field our positions better. We gave up three unearned runs. We just can't do that. Jared pitched well again. We turn that double play (in the fifth) it's a different game. But his demeanor never changed. That's why he's a winner."

Helbig survived an error in the top of the seventh and worked out of a jam to give his teammates reason to celebrate.

"A great accomplishment for us," McGugan said. "I didn't think we'd be here."

m.dimauro@theday.com