Bangor gearing up for tourney Host team looks to remain sharp

BANGOR – The host Maine District 3 champions have had a moderate level of success since the Senior League World Series moved to Bangor in 2002.

District representative Bangor (three times) and Orono-Veazie (once) have combined for a 3-13 record against U.S. regional champions and the best teams of 15- and 16-year-old baseball players from Latin America, Canada, Europe and Asia Pacific.

The host team has won one game in three of the four previous tournaments held at Mansfield Stadium, and has never had a loss shortened by the 10-run rule.

In fact, of the 13 losses, two have been by one run and five others have been by two runs.

It’s a level of competitiveness this year’s Bangor team hopes to meet or exceed when the games begin Sunday.

“This year we’re just trying to repeat last year and win at least one game,” said Christian Larochelle, one of four returning players from the 2005 team that finished 1-3 in pool play. “Hopefully we can get two games. No other [Maine] team has done that, so it would be good if we could.”

This is a young Bangor team, with just one returning starter in shortstop Kyle Gallant, the lone player not from the Bangor High School baseball program. Of the 14 team’s players, eight are age 16 while four others are 15 and two are 14 – having beaten a date deadline to qualify to play Senior League.

Team members are 16-year-olds Gallant, Larochelle, Josh Hansen, Christian Dionne, Tyler Brookings, Tyler McDade, John Cox and Riley Masters; 15-year-olds Chad Kelley, Jordan Clarke, Jason Duff and Zane Gray; and 14-year-olds Ryan Larochelle and Mack Susi. Ron St. Pierre is the team manager, assisted by coaches John Folsom and Scott Clarke.

One job of the veterans in the days leading up to the SLWS is to provide an understanding of the competition level and other aspects of the tournament.

“I just try to play my experience at the World Series off the other players, and help keep them comfortable, have some fun and show them it’s a great experience,” said Gallant.

While Bangor will enter its SLWS opener against the Canadian champion at noon Sunday – opening ceremonies are Saturday night – having not played since July 25, it already has experienced postseason pressure.

Bangor fell into the losers’ bracket of the District 3 tournament with an 8-6 decision to Old Town, but rebounded with three straight victories, including two over Old Town, to win the double-elimination event with a 5-1 record.

“During the high school season, Old Town beat us twice in JVs,” said Brookings. “We needed to beat them and we knew we could, we just had to go out and do it twice.”

The battle since then has been to regain game intensity, something all the more important given that five of the other nine teams in the SLWS field were still competing in qualifying tournaments this week.

Bangor has a simulated game planned for Thursday in an effort to help gear up for game day.

“We’ve had a little trouble keeping them in the mindset that this is a competition we’re going to be involved with, it’s not just for the fun of it come Sunday,” said St. Pierre. “We’ve really got to be ready because the [Canadian] team we’re playing is just getting done this week, they’re playing in Nova Scotia right now and they’ll be sharp. We haven’t been in a real game situation for a while.”

One other thing clear to the players relates to the keys to success at the SLWS.

“As long as we come out playing our game, we could beat most of the teams here,” said Jordan Clarke. “As long as we don’t make a lot of errors and the pitchers can throw strikes, we’ll be all set.”

Pitching has been one of the focal points since the team was formed from three Bangor-based teams that played during the District 3 regular season.

“Over the last six weeks, my whole fear was no pitching, no pitching, no pitching, because we were having trouble throwing strikes,” said St. Pierre. “We worked on pitching a couple of days, and when we had to come back and beat Old Town two games in a row, Josh Hansen pitched a great game and gave us a boost, and then Jordan Clarke came in and pitched a strong game. All of a sudden we found the strike zone.”

How that preparation translates come SLWS time remains to be seen, but wins and losses won’t represent the only measure of success, according to St. Pierre.

“First of all we have to represent the community well,” he said. “We have to look like we’re a ballclub. We have to hustle. We have to not complain about calls we don’t agree with. We have to practice and play like the champions that we are of District 3, and that we will represent District 3 in this World Series the same way, by hustling and keeping our tempers and playing the way we’ve played all season, with enthusiasm and not giving up.”