WOODSTOCK — Riding a wave of fan support and a raucous energy, the White River Valley baseball team closed out a perfect regular season by downing upset-minded Woodstock, 3-2, in a nailbiter at the McLaughlin Athletic Complex on Friday night.

The Wildcats (13-0) never trailed but spent much of the night nursing a one-run lead, with their aggressive baserunning stymied by good defense from the Wasps and some errors of their own on the basepaths. They scored when it mattered and played shutdown defense behind senior hurler Wyatt Cadwell, who went the distance for the win.

“The boys played well,” White River Valley coach Devin Cilley said. “Played well defensively, Wyatt pitched really well and offensively, kind of had an off night. They (Woodstock) played really well defensively, but our guys came ready to play tonight.”

On an off night, the Wildcats manufactured the eventual winning run.

With one out in the top of the sixth inning and runners on second and third, Cadwell slapped a ground ball down the third-base line that Woodstock infielder Ben Runstein fired home.

Caught in a rundown, White River Valley’s Brayden Russ retreated close to third before bolting home once Woodstock catcher Ray Petrone threw to third. Petrone failed to leave the basepath with nobody covering home, and the ensuing collision drew an obstruction call with Russ being awarded the plate and the run.

Russ’ celebration — a dramatic stomp on home plate before being mobbed by his teammates and spiking his helmet just outside the dugout — was par for the course for a White River Valley team that played with fire all night.

“It fires everyone up,” Russ said. “There’s nothing like 13 of your teammates screaming your name when you’re up at the plate or in the field. It lifts us up and it just engulfs the whole ballfield. Everybody hears it, and it’s tough to play against.”

The 14 Wildcats weren’t alone in their noisemaking, though. A throng of green- and gold-clad fans filled up the third-base side beyond the visiting dugout, making noise throughout the night and turning the senior night atmosphere into one more resembling a neutral site.

“I think it lifts them a lot,” Cilley said of the energy surrounding the team. “That was the first time they’ve had that energy for all seven innings for a while. It’s hard to do it for seven innings.”

For much of the season, the Wildcats have not needed that energy for the full length of a game, with nine of the team’s 13 prior wins coming by double digits. But it was all needed to fend off Woodstock (10-4).

The Wasps, who’ve sustained their four losses on the season by a combined five runs, fell behind 2-0 after Runstein, Woodstock’s starting pitcher, balked in a run in the top of the third on an illegal pickoff. The hosts then produced strong offense the rest of the way.

A perfect relay throw from White River Valley’s Jacob Benoit to get a runner at home plate was needed to keep the deficit at 2-0 through four innings, but Woodstock would not be denied, placing three straight baserunners and scoring one of them on a wild pitch to open its half of the fifth and cut the deficit with seemingly plenty more damage to be done.

But Cadwell worked a pair of tight fielder’s choices and escaped the jam by forcing a flyout to right field, setting the table for White River Valley to score its insurance run on the obstruction call.

Woodstock rallied right back, taking advantage of a rare WRV fielding error to place and then score a runner. But with one out and a man on first, Drew Gallagher grounded straight back to Cadwell, who executed the 1-4-3 double play to send the game to the seventh inning.

Gallagher, pitching in relief, bought the Wasps one more chance with a shutout top of the seventh, but there would be no rally. Cadwell worked around a two-out single to force a high pop-up to shortstop that closed out the night.

White River Valley will head to the playoffs as the undefeated top seed, looking to make its eighth consecutive state final dating back to when the school was known as South Royalton High. After two straight years in which the Wildcats upset their way to the final before losing in shutout fashion, this team looks poised to flip the script.

With the loss, Woodstock fell to fifth place in Division III entering the playoffs, behind a BFA-Fairfax team that won two fewer games than the Wasps but graded out slightly higher on the VPA’s index rating system.

Fifth place will likely see Woodstock be forced to do what no team has done in 14 years — win a playoff game in South Royalton — to reach its first state final since 1987.

The VPA playoffs begin on Tuesday.