Jordan helps Rangers round up a title

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STANDISH – Caleb Jordan took the mound with a tremendous amount of confidence Saturday evening.

Greely High School’s hard-throwing senior righthander not only features a nice repertoire of pitches, he is backed by a defense that seldom lets him down.

The Rangers of Cumberland Center rode that dependable combination, along with a few clutch hits, to a 4-0 victory over Winslow for the Class B baseball state championship at Mahaney Diamond.

Jordan scattered three hits, striking out eight and walking one, improving to 8-2 this season and 16-2 in his stellar career.

“You’ve got to have confidence in your defense, otherwise you can’t pitch,” said Jordan, who plans to play basketball and baseball at Colby-Sawyer College in New Hampshire. “I knew if I threw strikes, my defense was going to be there and we had a good chance of winning the game.”

Coach Derek Soule’s Rangers (18-2) uncharacteristically committed two errors, but neither of them impacted the outcome. Greely, which allowed 27 runs in 20 games, posted its ninth shutout of the season.

“It’s a very efficient team, very solid pitching and defense, and usually timely hitting,” Soule said. “That’s the way we’ve done it all year.”

Eastern Maine champ Winslow (16-4) hit only three balls out of the infield. The Black Raiders had a couple of hard-hit balls early in the game with Jordan throwing first-pitch fastballs.

Once he altered his approach and started utilizing his curveball and changeup early in counts, Winslow appeared off-balance.

“He seemed to get stronger; he got more confidence,” said Winslow coach Robin Weed. “He was throwing well today, spotting his pitches, moving the ball around.”

Greely scored the only run it would need in the first against Black Raiders senior righty Stephen Siviski (7-2).

Andrew Cimino grounded an opposite-field single to left-center with one out, before Ryan Robb reached on a throwing error and Matt Reade was walked intentionally, loading the bases. Jordan delivered a sacrifice fly to shallow center field.

The Rangers made it 3-0 in the fourth when Jordan walked, stole second and scored on Nate Mecray’s one-out single inside the bag at third. Mecray then stole second and rode home on Adam Norton’s ground-ball single through the middle.

“We’ve never really been a team to put a lot of runs on the board,” Jordan said. “We kind of manufacture runs. We get the timely hit and maybe the sacrifice bunt.”

Meanwhile, Jordan was in a nice groove on the mound. He mixed his pitches effectively, retiring nine men in a row during one stretch.

“You saw them get to him early, but once he settles in his zone, it’s tough,” Soule said. “It’s very rare anyone has scored on him late in a game.”

Greely added an insurance run in the fifth on Matt McDonough’s RBI single.

Cimino finished with a triple, a double and a single to spark the Rangers. Brendan Weed doubled for Winslow.

The Raiders’ best scoring opportunities came in the first and sixth innings, but they went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

“I’m proud of the kids,” coach Weed said. “They didn’t give up the whole way.

“[Greely] earned it,” he added. “They got the hits today and we didn’t.”

RANGERS 4, BLACK RAIDERS 0

Winslow (16-4) Greely (18-3)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Lindie, ss 3 0 1 0 Martin, cf 3 0 0

Weed, 2b 3 0 1 0 Cimino, rf 4 1 0

Brawn, c 3 0 0 0 Robb, 1b 3 1 0

Couturier, dh 2 0 0 0 Reade, 3b 2 0

Woods, rf 0 0 0 0 Jordan, p 1 1 1

Kriegel, pr 0 0 0 0 McDonough, lf 3 0 1

McCabe, 3b 3 0 1 0 Andrews, pr 0 0 0

St. Siviski, p 1 0 0 0 Mecray, dh 3 1

Loubier, 1b 2 0 0 0 Sanville, 2b 0 0 0

Grant, ph 1 0 0 0 Norton, c 3 0 1

Raymond, lf 3 0 0 0 McCauley, pr 0 0 0

Goulette, cf 3 0 0 0 Strouber, cf 2 0 0

Copp, ph 1 0 0 0

Totals 24 0 3 0 Totals 25 4 7 4

Winslow 000 000 0 – 0

Greely 100 210 x – 4

E-Lindie; Ciminio, Robb; LOB-Winslow 6; Greely 8; 2B-Weed; Cimino; 3B-Cimino; S-Siviski; SF-Jordan; SB-Jordan, Mecray, McCauley, Martin

Winslow IP H R ER BB SO

Siviski (L, 7-2) 6 6 4 3 4 7

Greely IP H R ER BB SO

Jordan (W, 8-2) 7 3 0 0 1 8

HBP-Couturier by Jordan; PB-Brawn; T-1:46; ATT-750 (est.)