But you still need to activate your account.
Sign in or Subscribe to view this content.
Three Eastern Maine high school baseball teams will play for state championships Saturday.
Two, reigning Class C state champion George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill and Eastern D winner Lee Academy, have recent experience in state title games – with GSA making its third straight appearance in the finals and Lee back for the second time in three years.
But for Eastern Maine Class B champion Hermon, it’s a whole new ballgame, but something the Hawks perhaps envisioned for themselves even before this season began.
“We knew we had everything in place,” said Hermon coach Mark Farnham. “We knew we had the tools. We just had to go out and play and use the tools we had.”
The Class A final originally scheduled for Saturday between Mount Ararat of Topsham and Deering of Portland has been moved to 6 p.m. Monday at Hadlock Field in Portland.
Class B: Hermon enters the state final riding an offensive high – scoring 32 runs on 42 hits in rolling to its first regional title, including 18 hits in its 9-4 win over Winslow in Wednesday’s EM final.
That’s coming off a regular season in which the Hawks had a .333 team batting average and a .400 on-base percentage. The attack is led by senior pitcher-shortstop Phil Cayford, senior first baseman Cory Archer and senior second baseman Brett Danforth.
“Offense has been pretty much a catalyst for us all year,” said Farnham.
Hermon started its season with six straight wins, then lost four in a row to eventual playoff teams – two to Class A Hampden Academy and one each to Foxcroft Academy and Ellsworth. The Hawks now are riding a nine-game winning streak.
Senior righthander Billy Bart (5-2) will start against Cape Elizabeth. Bart is coming off a five-inning four-hitter in Hermon’s 12-2 semifinal win over Presque Isle.
“He’s pitched very well for us,” said Farnham. “He’s got very good control, and a real good fastball.”
Cape Elizabeth earned its way back to the state final for the first time since 1993 by defeating Greely of Cumberland Center 4-1 in Thursday’s Western Maine final. The third-seeded Capers, who ousted defending state champion Oak Hill of Wales in the semifinals, used a three-run double by Conor Casey in the bottom of the sixth to break a 1-1 tie.
Lefthander Nick Freed (4-0), who threw a six-hitter against Oak Hill, may be in line to get the pitching start against Hermon for coach Todd Day’s club.
Class C: These teams last met in 1997, when George Stevens defeated St. Dominic of Lewiston 7-0 to win the Class C state championship. St. Dominic has reached the final for the first time since then, while GSA is making its sixth trip to the title game in 11 years – including last June when the Eagles defeated Jay to win the championship.
Eleven seniors graduated from that team, but the success of the Eagles and youth baseball teams in the area over the years has bred a spirit of confidence throughout the baseball community on the Blue Hill peninsula.
“We knew we’d be at least here by the end of the season,” said infielder Adam Cousins after the Eagles edged Searsport 7-6 in the Eastern Maine final. “We’ve been confident from Day 1, but not overconfident.”
Cousins, catcher Harrison Hines and pitcher-infielder Will Rosenthal are the lone seniors on a GSA roster that includes 10 sophomores.
“The kids play baseball all summer long and into the fall,” said GSA coach Dan Kane. “Most of them are three-sport athletes, but for most of them I think baseball’s their favorite sport, and they’ve had a lot of success.”
Among the Eagles’ top hitters are sophomore pitcher-first baseman Collin Henry (.537 with 28 hits, 12 for extra bases), Cousins (.403, 28 runs scored), Hines (.361) and Rosenthal (.293)
The GSA pitching staff features three lefthanders in junior Dan Hilts (5-0), Henry (6-1) and Rosenthal (4-0), who got the win in relief in the EM final. Hilts pitched a shutout in last year’s state final, and either he or Henry will get the start against St. Dominic.
St. Dominic hasn’t faced a lefthanded pitcher this year, according to coach Allan Turgeon. The Saints also have relied heavily on pitching, particularly senior righthanders Ryan Turgeon (6-2) and Ian Pullen (5-0). Turgeon fought off a recent shoulder injury to pitch St. Dominic past Jay 6-2 in the Western Maine final, but coach Turgeon wasn’t saying Thursday who would get the start against GSA.
Class D: This is a rematch of the 2002 final, when Lee jumped out to a 6-1 lead only to have NYA rally for a 12-6 victory. Senior pitcher-infielder Nate Dow was one of three Lee players – along with senior catcher Zac Currie and junior pitcher-infielder Gerry Worster – who started in that game and will play Saturday, and he sees a lesson to be learned from the 2002 game.
“If anything, we’ve got to play as hard as we can through the end of the game, because if you let up anything can happen in baseball,” said Dow after pitching the top-ranked Pandas past Shead of Eastport 14-4 in the EM final.
Lee boasts an offense that has produced 10 runs or more in 15 of its 19 games against a schedule consisting primarily of Class C teams. Leading hitters include Dow, Currie, sophomore shortstop Tyler Thompson, sophomore outfielder Everett Houghton and sophomore designated hitter Blaine Clark.
Worster (5-1) will get the pitching start against NYA, according to Pandas’ coach Randy Harris. Worster pitched a two-hitter with eight strikeouts and two walks as Lee defeated Deer Isle-Stonington in the regional semifinals. Sophomore Charlie Boulrisse (5-0) also is available for the Pandas.
Lee will try to become the first Eastern Maine team to win the Class D state title since Southern Aroostook of Dyer Brook defeated NYA in 1999. Since that loss, the Panthers have won four state titles in the last five years.
Coach Bruce Poliquin’s club is led offensively by senior catcher Dan Bartlett and senior center fielder Tim Lachance, both batting better than .400. The Panthers also boast experience up the middle in senior shortstop Matt Curran and senior second baseman Luke Welch. Another senior, 5-0 Sam Moss, is likely to get the pitching start.
“We know going in that they’ve been a very dominant team, one of the best in the state regardless of class,” said Harris.
Comments
comments for this post are closed