MPA changes time, date of Class A final Rogers to face Rams Monday in Portland

The showdown between the state’s best high school pitcher and its top schoolboy baseball program has a new date and location.

The Maine Principals’ Association announced Thursday that the 2004 Class A state championship game between Mount Ararat of Topsham and Deering of Portland has been moved to 6 p.m. Monday at Hadlock Field in Portland.

The game originally was scheduled for noon Saturday at Gorham High School, but was switched to accommodate the large crowd expected to attend, according to an MPA news release. Gorham High has limited bleacher seating, while Hadlock Field – home to the Portland Sea Dogs – seats 6,500 for baseball.

MPA officials began inquiring about moving the game almost immediately after an estimated 3,000 fans turned out at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor on Tuesday night to watch Gatorade National High School Player of the Year Mark Rogers pitch Mount Ararat past Brewer 4-1 in the Eastern Maine Class A final.

Hadlock Field wasn’t available Saturday due to commitments involving the Sea Dogs, according to the release. The Boston Red Sox Double A affiliate is scheduled to host a youth clinic from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, then face New Britain at 6 p.m.

Moving the game back two days should clear up any uncertainty about the pitching matchup, as unbeaten seniors Rogers and Ryan Reid of Deering both would be working on five days rest.

Rogers (9-0) worked on three days rest for the first time this season in pitching a 16-strikeout two-hitter in the EM final. The righthander, who on Monday was the No. 5 overall pick in the amateur draft by the Milwaukee Brewers, has struck out 158 batters in 63 innings while allowing 10 hits, 11 walks and two earned runs.

Reid, headed to James Madison University on a baseball scholarship, is 7-0 after a five-inning one-hitter Tuesday as the Rams whipped Portland 12-0 in the WM final. During the regular season, Reid had a 0.22 earned run average, and opposing batters hit just .085. While Rogers’ fastball has been clocked in the mid- to high-90s, Reid is no velocity slouch, as his fastball recently was clocked in the low-90s.

The junior-heavy Deering lineup features shortstop Ryan Flaherty and catcher Andrew Giobbi. Flaherty tied for the Telegram League batting title, hitting .500 during the regular season with no strikeouts. Giobbi batted .456 with five home runs, 10 doubles, 32 RBIs and an .895 slugging percentage, and also boasts a powerful throwing arm from behind the plate.

Deering (19-0) is the last team to defeat Rogers, besting the Orrs Island native in last year’s state final. In Monday’s rematch, coach Mike D’Andrea’s Rams will be attempting to win their fifth state championship in the last six years,while Mount Ararat (18-1) is in search of its first state crown.

The other half of Saturday’s original doubleheader at Gorham, the Class C final between reigning state champion George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill and St. Dominic of Lewiston, will still be held on the same day and and at the same place, but the game time has been advanced from 5 p.m. to noon.

A Western perspective

While No. 3 Cape Elizabeth was edging No. 8 Greely 4-1 Thursday for the Western B title in a game that had been postponed from Wednesday due to rain, Deering and fellow Western Maine champions St. Dominic of Lewiston and North Yarmouth Academy continued to prepare for their dates with state championship-game destiny.

In Class C, St. Dominic will be playing in its first state final since 1997 after dethroning two-time defending regional champion Jay 6-2 in the WM final on Tuesday. Coach Allan Turgeon’s Saints are 15-2, with the only losses coming to North Yarmouth Academy, which will try to win its third straight Class D state title on Saturday. Among St. Dominic’s victories this season is a 14-11 win over NYA, which ended the Panthers’ 30-game winning streak.

“Pitching and defense have been our keys,” said Turgeon. “We’re deep in our pitching staff, and strong defensively up the middle.”

St. Dominic is led by senior righthander Ryan Turgeon, now 6-2 after a four-hitter in the Western C final despite coming off a shoulder injury suffered during the Saints’ quarterfinal victory over Wiscasset.

The Bowdoin College-bound Turgeon, the son of the head coach, may get the call against defending state champion George Stevens Academy in Saturday’s 5 p.m. state final at Gorham High School. If not, senior Ian Pullen (5-0) will start. Pullen is coming off an eight-inning complete-game 3-2 victory over Telstar of Bethel in the regional semifinals.

Leading hitters for the Saints include junior left fielder John Rutt and senior shortstop Jack Lavoie, who also teams with senior second baseman Josh Dwinal to give St. Dominic a solid double-play combination.

In Class D, North Yarmouth Academy has won 36 of its last 37 games and the last two state championships. The Panthers are a veteran team, with seven seniors on the roster.

“We’re confident in that we think we are capable in all areas,” said NYA coach Bruce Poliquin.

NYA has three players who started in the 2002 state final when the Panthers rallied from a 6-1 deficit for a 12-6 win over Saturday’s opponent in the 2004 title game, Lee Academy. Those seniors, center fielder Tim Lachance, shortstop Matt Curran, and second baseman Luke Welch, provide much of the team’s leadership, along with senior catcher Dan Bartlett, a transfer from Deering two years ago.

Bartlett and Lachance, the 3-4 hitters in the NYA batting order, are both hitting better than .400, Poliquin said.

“We’ve got to be able to come through offensively when we get runners in scoring position,” said Poliquin.

NYA won’t have pitching ace Tim DeLuca available, as he pitched the Panthers to a 5-1 win over Buckfield in Wednesday’s WM final Wednesday. Poliquin hasn’t said who will get the start against Lee, though it could be senior Sam Moss (5-0).