Deering High School of Portland will be in familiar territory when it squares off against Brewer in Saturday’s Class A baseball state final.

Game time is noon at Mahaney Diamond on the campus of Saint Joseph’s College in Standish.

Coach Mike D’Andrea’s Rams are the defending state champions and have won the gold in three of the last five years and six of the last nine.

And once Deering reaches the final, history has shown the Rams make the most of the opportunity – the program is 10-0 in state championship games.

Deering enters this year’s final as the lone undefeated team in the state at 20-0 after Tuesday’s 3-2 victory over Westbrook in the Western Maine final.

That game marked the return to the mound of junior Regan Flaherty, the winning pitcher in last year’s state final against Bangor, who has returned to action this spring after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee last fall.

Taylor Candage (9-0) anchors a pitching staff that has allowed more than four runs in just two games this spring, while Matt Watson (.471 during the regular season), Jack Heary (.426), Marc Ouimet (.417) and Candage (.415) anchor the offense.

Like Deering, Western B champion Cape Elizabeth also has been highly successful in state finals, with a 9-3 record, including its most recent title run in 2004.

The Capers dropped their last two regular-season games to fall into ninth place in the final Heal points. But coach Chris Hayward’s club ripped off four straight victories – three on the road and its neutral-site 9-2 victory over No. 3 Lincoln Academy of Newcastle in Wednesday’s regional final at Saint Joseph’s – to earn its berth in the state game.

Cape Elizabeth (13-7) faces Eastern B champ Gardiner in an 11 a.m. start Saturday at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor.

Cape Elizabeth averaged nearly nine runs per game in playoff victories over Lisbon, top-ranked York, Maranacook of Readfield and Lincoln Academy, with Zach Breed hitting successfully in each game and Andrew Guay and Adam Danielson also adding key hits.

Guay (6-3) leads the pitching staff in victories and earned the win against Lincoln Academy with a two-hit performance. Either Ryan Boyington (5-3), who earned the Capers’ 5-2 quarterfinal victory over York, or Conor Maloney (2-0), the winner in the semifinals against Maranacook, will get the start against Gardiner.

Livermore Falls (17-3) squares off against Searsport in Saturday’s 5 p.m. Class C final at Saint Joseph’s, hoping for a repeat of the 1999 meeting between these teams when the Andies scored a 17-3 victory to secure their most recent state championship.

Coach Brian Dube’s club knocked off 2007 state champion and four-time defending Western C champ Saint Dominic of Auburn 3-1 in Tuesday’s regional final. That win avenged a tough loss to the Saints in last year’s semifinals when Livermore Falls took a lead into the bottom of the seventh inning before Saint Dom’s rallied for the victory.

Livermore Falls features three key seniors in Jake Marceau, Kevin Gats and Zach Keene and boasts a deep pitching staff including Marceau, Keene and sophomores Derrick Castonguay and Willie Brown.

A veteran Rangeley team that won its second straight Western Maine Class D championship this week is poised to challenge Katahdin of Stacyville in the Class D state final set to begin at 4 p.m. Saturday at Mansfield Stadium.

Coach Mark Gordon’s second-ranked Lakers (11-4) advanced by defeating Richmond for the second straight year in the regional final, earning a 3-0 victory over the top-ranked Bobcats behind the three-hit pitching of junior Luke Hammond.

Hammond also had a two-run single in the game, while David Raymond and Ben Bliss each added two hits.

Hammond (7-0) anchors the staff, but Bliss, who worked in relief in last year’s state final, likely will get the start against Katahdin.

Bliss is also part of a productive top part of the batting order, along with Hammond, David Raymond, Kent Madiera and Zach Abbott.

Rangeley, which defeated Buckfield 6-5 in the semifinals of the five-team Western D playoffs, is seeking its first state title. The Lakers lost to Deer Isle-Stonington 11-2 in last year’s state final but return most of the roster from that squad.

eclark@bangordailynews.net

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