Dominating Rams look unstoppable

Nearly a year has elapsed since the Bangor High baseball team has lost. It was May 9, 2006, when Brewer parlayed single runs in the first two innings into a 2-1 win over the Rams at Mansfield Stadium.

That marked the second half of a midseasaon slump for Bangor, which days earlier had fallen to Skowhegan 6-5 on a four-run rally by the Indians in the top of the seventh.

Coach Jeff Fahey’s club then ran off 11 straight wins to close out the 2006 season, capped by the come-from-behind 4-3 victory over Portland in the Class A state championship game.

This year, preseason or no preseason, the Rams have been the team to beat – or not to beat – so far in Eastern Maine.

Bangor has outscored its opposition 71-11 during its 7-0 start, with four victories invoking the 10-run rule. Opponents average fewer than four hits per game; the Rams have scored no fewer than eight runs in a contest.

“We just try to score as many runs as we can,” said third baseman Shane Walton. “We don’t know what inning they’re coming in, they’ve just happened to come in the first three or four innings.”

Only Brewer (8-7), Lawrence of Fairfield (9-2) and Hampden Academy (6-1) have gone the distance against Bangor, and the resulting shortage of innings has created an unusual dilemma.

“We want to play seven innings so we can get more at-bats and get more kids into the games, but we’ve played a lot of short games,” said center fielder Tom Crews.

Crews is one of several Bangor players coming off a state championship run during basketball season, when the Rams faced a similar challenge. Not that the games ended early, but many of that team’s regular-season contests were decided early, meaning less playing time for the starters in preparation for the tournament.

That ultimately didn’t matter for the basketball team, which like last spring’s baseball team used a midseason loss (at Mt. Blue of Farmington) as motivation for a second-half surge.

When any championship team finds things going its way again the following year, it can be the recipe for an upset, particularly with midpoint of the new season having arrived.

So what do you do about that possibility? Just keep playing.

“We try to stay focused every game,” said senior catcher Gordon Webb. “We just come out and go for it, and take it seriously every time we play.”

Will someone end Bangor’s winning streak any time soon?

A stout pitching performance can negate any team’s firepower, but with a veteran roster boasting of potent offense, solid defense and a pitching staff rounding into form, the Rams seem capable of guarding against a letdown from within.

“I don’t think this group is going to let that happen,” said Fahey. “We’ve got a good mix of veterans from last year who know how to play and know how to practice, who know when to turn it on and when to jack it up a notch, and we’ve got some young guys who have stepped in and done a good job.”

Messalonskee of Oakland is the only team Bangor has not yet faced for the first time on its schedule. The Eagles get their initial crack at the Rams today.

“Competition is good for us because it will help us get ready for the playoffs,” said Walton, “but right now we’re just looking at it a game at time.”

Ernie Clark may be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or at eclark@bangordailynews.net.