ROCHESTER HILLS >> Though Jackson Manoulian may have been displaying a poker face, emotions were brewing within the Lake Orion senior.

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth and a pair of Rochester Adams players on base, including the go-ahead runner at second, any mistake could have ended Friday’s D1 district championship at Rochester High School.

He remained stoic after hitting Adams third baseman Henry Donohoe to load the bases, too.

Finally, when Lake Orion catcher Ayden Novak caught a runner at third base to end the inning, some of the emotions were laid on Manoulian’s face as he entered the dugout. But not as many as after the Dragons scored three in the top of the 10th inning to beat the Highlanders for the district title, 7-4.

“I kind of get more and more amped as the situations get tighter,” said Manoulian, who entered the game in the sixth, providing the Dragons 3 1/3 scoreless innings. “It’s a pitch-by-pitch thing, and I feel like I want it more and more as it gets tougher, and I feel like that’s the only way to get out of it.

“I tell everybody I don’t feel anything, I don’t get nervous. Deep down, there’s a feeling, but on the outside, I’ll never let you know. I was nervous. Each play can bring a whole new story, but I just kind of stuff it down and throw the next pitch.”

Lake Orion (19-19) wasted no time taking advantage of its good fortune of escaping the ninth unscathed. Grayson Oliver singled and Anderson Adams walked, then Travis Acker successfully bunted to load the bases, all with no outs.

Dragons first baseman Carter Knieding then hit the ball to second baseman Andrew Wozniak, but the force out at home wasn’t in time and Oliver scored to give Lake Orion a 5-4 lead.

With the bases still juiced, Jackson Gilbert hit a chopping single up the right side that scored both Adams and Acker, giving the Dragons a three-run cushion.

Carson Russell entered for Manoulian and retired the side in order in the bottom of the 10th, and that’s when the cork really popped off Lake Orion’s bottle of emotions.

The Dragons’ season began by being swept in a three-game series by the Highlanders, who were ranked No. 3 in the final D1 poll. After ending Lake Orion’s season in districts last year, the tables were turned on Friday.

“I gave up five in districts (to Adams last year) and gave up six (to them) at the beginning of the season,” Manoulian said. “This is the first time I’ve shut them out, so it feels really, really good … (Finding a way today) says a lot about change. We started the season pretty rough, and to see this team come back from a deficit like that, it’s a whole different team.”

As he alluded to, Adams came out and put three runs on the board in the bottom of the first on a pair of RBI singles by Flip Watters and Brody Larson, and Watters scored on a wild pitch to build the initial lead.

But Lake Orion responded by knotting the game up 3-3 in the third. Anderson Adams’ double to deep right scored a pair of runs and he later crossed the plate on a balk.

The Dragons took their first lead of the contest when Novak scored on a passed ball in the top of the fourth, then Adams tied the game in the sixth in unusual fashion. Donohoe, hit by a pitch to open up the inning, stole a base, then advanced another base on a sacrifice grounder. With one out, Larson came to the plate, and the first pitch to him dinked off the handle of his bat and into fair territory. It seemingly confused everyone but Donohoe, who scored while Larson, eventually tagged out, was still around the batter’s box.

Manoulian, who entered to get the final out of that inning, also worked out of a jam in the seventh with help from Acker, who in center field robbed Matt Toeppner of a hit that could have helped Adams allow extra innings altogether. Jackson Gilbert also tracked down a ball hit by Rino Watters — who was intentionally walked his last two at-bats — near the fence in right field to end the fifth that would have otherwise certainly scored a runner.

Gilbert had also doubled off a runner in the fourth, just another big play in the field that made the win possible. What also made it happen was the pitching effort, which went beyond Manoulian. Chris Filias came in the title game in the second frame and went 4 2/3 innings, allowing just one hit.

In the 2-1 semifinal victory over Rochester that preceded the final, Sam Beemer went the distance, allowing only a pair of hits and no earned runs as he fanned nine batters.

“Jackson had a good fastball today, and he’s got a really college-level breaking ball,” Dragons head coach Andrew Schramek said. “And he just went out there and battled and competed. Filias, he’s a super good story. He didn’t get a lot of pitching time last year but worked his butt off in the offseason, came back, and he was arguably our second or third-best pitcher all year long. And then, what Sam did in the first game, he’s like, ‘guys, I got you.’”

Gilbert had a pair of hits in the Dragons’ semifinal victory, as did Anderson Adams, who doubled in Oliver for the go-ahead run in the fifth. Anthony Larkins went six frames for the Falcons in that game, conceding a handful of hits and just one walk while striking out eight.

The favorites, meanwhile, began the day with a 6-1 win over Utica Eisenhower in their semifinal. Brady Lindstrom allowed six hits and no walks with four strikeouts in his start for the Highlanders. Toeppner went 3-for-4 in that game, while McCallister Doelle drove in three of Adams’ runs to beat Ike.

Adams finishes the year with a record of 28-9.

“The emotions are difficult,” Highlanders head coach Andrew Lamkin said. “We had our opportunities to win and we just didn’t get it done. We have to give them a lot of credit. They hung in there and fought with us all day long. This is tough. It’s really, really hard. One of our Achilles’ heel all year long has been baserunning, and that really snuck up and bit us there at the end. But 22 guys here fought together, worked together and won 28 games, so it’s a tremendous season, it just sucks that it ends this way.”

The Dragons, who reached a regional final two seasons ago, will be back at Rochester High on Wednesday for a chance to do the same against the winner of Saturday’s district in Romeo. The Bulldogs, ranked seventh in D1, are the favorites to emerge as their opponent.

Friday’s win will give Lake Orion the confidence to get past just about anyone.

“I think we can enjoy it today and understand that we can beat outstanding teams,” Schramek said. “Rochester Adams is one of the best teams in the state, and we can play with them. There’s still areas where I think we need to get better, and can get better, but we can enjoy today.”