Brewer and Bangor have represented Zone 1 in the state American Legion baseball tournament each of the last three years, and those teams rank 1-2 in this summer’s final regular season standings.

But as the 2008 Zone 1 tournament gets under way Friday with a tripleheader at the Winkin Baseball Complex on the campus of Husson College in Bangor, all six contenders know the regular season isn’t necessarily a harbinger of postseason success to come.

“It’s very even,” said Penquis coach Billy Kane. “All the teams have beaten each other in some way, shape or form. We’ve had some big wins over some of the top teams. Hampden beat Brewer, we beat Hampden, Brewer beat us, so it’s a logjam and it’s going to come down to who puts nine innings together from day-to-day.”

Over the last 10 years, the top two seeds have advanced to the state tournament just four times.

In the last six years, one team seeded fourth or lower in the zone tournament has advanced to the states, including last summer when fourth-ranked Brewer surged to its third straight Zone 1 tourney championship.

And any talk about who might emerge from this year’s four-day, double-elimination event begins with the reigning champion. Brewer (18-2) fielded eight All-Zone 1 players this year and boasts a deep pitching staff led by lefthander Jim Nicknair (4-0), who earned first-team all-zone honors for the second time in three years.

Righthanders Chase Daniels (2-1) and Chris Maguire (3-0) are other notable hurlers, and the Falcons hope to get an added boost from righthander Greg Higgins. A first-team All-Zone 1 choice last summer who went 9-0 this spring in leading Brewer High School to the Eastern Maine Class A title, Higgins had been shut down during the Legion season due to a tender shoulder until seeing his first duty last weekend.

“Greg’s going to get some innings,” said Brewer coach Dave Morris. “Whether he’s going to be the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-inning kind of guy or the closer, he’ll be in the mix.”

Bangor (15-5) boasts the Zone 1 pitcher of the year in righty Ian Edwards (5-0), himself refreshed after missing the latter stages of the high school season and the early part of the Legion schedule due to a hamstring injury. Jordan Clarke and Kyle Savage, two other starters, have had their innings managed in an effort to be fresh for the rigors of nine-inning postseason games.

“We ended strong and did what we had to do and got some guys back some healthy and got some other guys some rest,” said Bangor coach Fred Lower. “We’re swinging the bats well, so now we’ll see if this week off throws a wrench in it, but we feel good about our chances.”

Third-seeded Trenton (14-6) boasts a solid pitching trio in Josh Astbury, Pete Dickinson and Caleb Hale, as well as the Zone 1 player of the year in catcher Lucas Marks.

No. 4 Steamboat Petroleum of Waldo County (13-7) has a top-notch mound duo in first-team all-star Nate Adams (4-0) and Gabe Blodgett (4-1), while fifth-ranked Hampden (11-9) has been sparked by Shawn Smith (4-3) and Brennan Perry, both second-team All-Zone 1 choices.

“Our pitching’s kept us in ballgames all year, but our hitting hadn’t won a game for us until finally [last] week,” said Hampden coach Jason Folsom, whose team erupted for 40 runs to win its last four games. “We’ve had good pitching, and the kids are locked in right now. They’re hitting the ball well, they’re seeing the ball, and they’re producing runs.

No. 6 Penquis (11-9) also has quality pitching depth featuring first-teamer Dan Beatham 3-2) and second-team choice Nick Emery (3-2).

“I really think there’s a lot of parity in the whole league,” said Morris, whose Falcons will face Penquis in Friday’s 1 p.m. tournament opener. “There are a lot of good players, and some good pitching. We told our kids whether a team is No. 1, 6, 3 or 4 it really doesn’t make a difference, because I think every team in the tournament has at least two good pitchers.”

Bangor will face Hampden at 4 p.m. Friday, with Trenton meeting Steamboat Petroleum at 7 to conclude the opening day of tournament play.

eclark@bangordailynews.net

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