Moran in baseball for long haul Winterport ballplayer makes Biddeford club

Some people just can’t get enough baseball. With the summer baseball programs basically completed, Winterport’s Pat Moran goes to something of an extreme to get his swings at the plate.

Each Sunday the 15-year-old Moran hops into the car with his parents and travels to Biddeford to play for the Maine Stags baseball team.

The Maine Stags is a team made up of high school-age players coached by Brian “Ziggy” Gillespie, who played college baseball at the University of Southern Maine and was inducted in the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000.

“We started the team five years ago. My son, at the time, was a junior at Biddeford High School and he played baseball. I wanted to give the high schoolers a chance to play against good competition at the end of summer,” Gillespie explained.

Moran got word of the Stags while playing American Legion baseball for the Brewer Falcons.

“I heard about it from Tom Dennen [of the Waldo-Knox Wildcats]. I was interested because Tom told me that the people [the Stags] play against were pretty high caliber,” Moran said.

Dennen will be entering his second year with the Stags as a catcher. He will be a sophomore at Camden Hills High School in Rockport.

The Stags play against all-star teams from the Portland and Portsmouth, N.H., area.

“We play at a high level,” Gillespie said. “We play local all-star teams, the University of New Hampshire club team, the Maine Diamond Dogs. [The Diamond Dogs] play in the over-30 national championships.”

The Stags hold tryouts each year with a limited number of openings available. Gillespie said that returning players are guaranteed a spot. Players who make the team must pay a fee of $175 to cover team expenses.

“We had 28 players try out for seven positions. [Moran] was kinda surprised when he made the team because of his age,” Gillespie said.

Moran will be a sophomore at Hampden Academy. He played varsity baseball last school year as a freshman and started in the outfield. He said he pitched a couple of games and was a Penobscot Valley Conference All-Star as a utility player. He also played on the Hampden Academy junior varsity basketball team.

Moran also pitched and won three games during the American Legion season for Brewer.

“I was kinda surprised to make the team. I thought I had a chance because [Dennen] told me they would be looking for pitchers and outfielders,” Moran said.

Moran pitched in the Stags’ first game against a team of former Stags players.

“He won the outstanding pitcher award for the game,” Gillespie said. “He pitched three innings and gave up two hits, no walks, four strikeouts against a team of college players.”

The team has since played two more games. Moran has two hits in three plate appearances and has pitched five innings and allowed two earned runs.

The Stags’ season has six weeks remaining. That’s six straight Sundays of making the round trip to Biddeford with a baseball doubleheader tossed in between.

“It’s not too bad,” Moran said. “I travel farther than anyone else on the team. But it’s good competition. It’s better pitching [than high school and Legion baseball] and they throw harder. And it’s a chance for me to pitch against better hitters. It’s a good test.”

Don Perryman can be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or dperryman@bangordailynews.net