McElwain shines in John Bapst victory Crusaders end championship drought

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BANGOR – For the first time in 52 years, John Bapst Memorial High School will represent Eastern Maine in a state championship baseball game.

Thanks in large part to a performance featuring maturity and poise beyond the years of sophomore pitcher Cole McElwain, his Crusaders won their second-ever regional baseball title with an impressive 8-0 East Class B championship victory over Orono on a wet, drizzly Tuesday afternoon at Mansfield Stadium.

The win sends the top-seeded, 15-4 Crusaders into Saturday’s 7 p.m. state championship game against defending state champ Maranacook of Readfield at St. Joseph’s Mahaney Field in Standish. The game also ended the Cinderella carriage ride of No. 6 Orono, which winds up 13-7.

McElwain was simply commanding on the mound as he no-hit the Red Riots through 51/3 innings and finished with a two-hit, three-walk, four-strikeout performance while elevating his record to 5-0.

“He stepped up as a sophomore and pitched an absolutely wonderful game,” said Riots coach Aaron Watson. “We did leave our bats on the bus, but give him credit. He kept us off balance, he mixed in his fastball with his curve and we didn’t hit him hard all day.”

McElwain used offspeed pitches to keep the Riots guessing and make his fastball that much harder for them to sit on.

“The first inning, I was pretty nervous, but after that, I realized we just had to win this game and I settled right down,” said McElwain, who threw 54 of 86 pitches for strikes.

Not bad for a guy who figured he’d be fourth in the rotation, if in it at all, this season.

“He was 7-0 last year on the JV team, but he didn’t start much of the first half of the year with the guys we had,” said Bapst rookie coach Mike Miragliuolo. “It was tough for him to break in, but he’s come into his own and he’s just been dominant lately.”

So much so that McElwain may draw Saturday’s start as well.

“Cole pitched a hell of a game, so we had a good feeling about this one,” said shortstop Zach Means.

Any lingering jitters McElwain may have had early on dissipated after Means mashed a 1-0 fastball from Orono’s Al Glossian for a two-run triple to right field in the third.

“When he crushed that one, that was a huge confidence boost for us. I just wanted one run and they gave me eight,” said McElwain.

Bapst made it 3-0 as Means scored on Andy Tremble’s sacrifice fly and added another run in the fourth on a leadoff single by Pat Healy (2-for-2), a hit batter, a single, and Billy Chapman’s sacrifice fly.

Bryan Snyder made it 5-0 in the fifth as he hit a one-out double, went to third on a single, and stole home. The last two runs came with two outs in the sixth on Zev Myerowitz’s bases-loaded single up the middle.

James Strout also helped pace Bapst’s attack with a double and two singles in four at-bats.

Bapst’s win avenged an 11-8 loss to Orono in the regular season.

“That game and a loss to Hermon were wakeup calls for us,” said Miragliuolo. “They made our guys realize they can be shut down.”

Orono was shut down until the sixth, when one-out, back-to-back singles by Mike Merritt and Daryl Watson broke up McElwain’s no-hit bid. McElwain escaped damage as catcher Brandon Gray threw Merritt out at second on a steal attempt and McElwain retired Bo Thomas on a groundout.

“When we got an opportunity to get a runner in scoring position, we either didn’t take advantage of it or we couldn’t advance guys,” Watson said.

Crusaders 8, Red Riots 0

Orono (13-7) John Bapst (15-4)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R BI

Merritt, 2b 2 0 1 0 Strout, 2b 4 2 0

Watson, ss 3 0 1 0 Chapman, 3b 1 1 1

Thomas, c 2 0 0 0 Means, ss 2 2 2

Levesque, dh 3 0 0 0 Tremble, rf 3 0 1

Glossian, p-3b 0 0 0 0 Myerowitz, 1b 4 2

Skall, cf 3 0 0 0 Snyder, cf 4 1 0

Sinclair, lf 2 0 0 0 Healy, dh 2 1 0

a-Dube 0 0 0 0 Gray, c 2 0 0

Ellis, 1b 3 0 0 0 Jellison, lf 1 1 0

Caggiano, 3b-p 2 0 0 0

Round, rf 2 0 0 0

Totals 22 0 2 0 Totals 23 8 10 6

a-walked for Sinclair in seventh

Orono 000 000 0 ? 0

John Bapst 003 113 x ? 8

E?Glossian, Ellis 2; Strout; LOB?Orono 4; John Bapst 7; 2B?Strout, Snyder; 3B?Means; DP?Chapman-Strout-Myerowitz; S?Chapman; SF?Tremble, Chapman; SB?Caggiano; Snyder 3

Orono IP H R ER BB SO

Glossian (L, 5-3) 5 9 7 5 5 1

Caggiano 1 1 1 0 1 0

John Bapst IP H R ER BB SO

McElwain (W, 5-0) 7 2 0 0 3 4

HBP? Jellison by Glossian; WP? McElwain; T? 1:41; ATT? 450 (est.)