When last we saw the Old Town-Orono American Legion baseball team, the Twins were playing errorless ball and spanking the ball all over the ballpark at Togus on their way to winning the state tournament.

Coach Dave Paul and his ballclub hope to pick up right where they left off eight days ago when they compete in the American Legion Baseball New England Regional Tournament, which begins Wednesday at Adams Field in Quincy, Mass.

Old Town-Orono will take on the New Jersey runnerup, Nulty Post 471 of Iselin, at 1:30 p.m. The Twins enter the double-elimination tourney with a 24-6 overall mark, while Nulty Post counters with a 23-7 record.

In Wednesday’s other contests, defending New England regional champion East Hartford, Conn., plays Hudson, N.H., at 10:05 a.m.; West Boylston, Mass., faces Vermont at 5:05 p.m.; and Rhode Island plays host Quincy, Mass., in the 8:30 p.m. nightcap.

The Maine champions are optimistic about competing in the regionals. Paul said his Twins, who went into Maine’s state tournament to win it, rather than just try to make a good showing, will not be intimidated.

“We don’t want to be wide-eyed and in awe of everything that’s going on,” Paul said on the eve of his team’s departure. “We believe that we can compete with any of the other teams in the tournament.”

Old Town-Orono’s first-round opponent is a highly regarded team, in spite of not having won its state tournament. Nulty Post, coached by Frank Notaro, finished second in its state tournament to Brooklawn, the defending American Legion national champion.

Brooklawn is competing in another regional at Binghamton, N.Y., this week.

Nulty Post has built its success this summer around pitching and defense. It features a deep pitching staff, which includes six good hurlers.

Lefthander Frank Chelbian, 6-0, is the ace of the staff. Chelbian, who relies primarily on a fastball and a curveball, is expected to get the start against Old Town-Orono.

Nulty Post also looks to right-handers Fred Torres, Chris Berg and Chris Kobylakiewicz to provide effective pitching.

Offensively, Nulty Post looks to Frank Beckhorn to set the pace. Beckhorn, who attended Woodbridge (N.J.) High School, has signed a letter of intent to play baseball at Seton Hall.

Beckhorn, Nulty’s third baseman, is batting .479 with four home runs, 36 RBIs and 13 doubles. Outfielder Steve Christianson is another hitting standout at .423.

Old Town-Orono is on somewhat of a roll as it enters the regional. The Twins have not committed an error in their last three games and outscored their opponents 40-14 during that span.

Steve Coombs, the MVP of the state tournament and the recipient of the Mr. Baseball-Dr. John Winkin Award as the state’s outstanding senior high school baseball player, will get the starting nod for the Twins on Wednesday. The hard-throwing Coombs is 8-1 with a 2.88 earned run average and 66 strikeouts in 58 1/3 innings.

Shortstop Matt Eastman has been Old Town-Orono’s plate catalyst at .466 with three homers and 27 RBIs, while 1B Nick Chaisson (.403, 1 HR, 20 RBIs), OF-P Coombs (.402, 6 HR, 40 RBIs) and catcher Ron Coombs (.442, 2 HR, 15 RBIs) have been among the mainstays.

“From here on out, you’re competing against some of the best players in New England,” Paul said. “We’re going down with the idead that if we play the way we’re capable of playing, we should have as good as shot as anybody.”

Old Town-Orono Twins American Legion Baseball 1992 Individual Statistics BATTING Player AB R H Ave. HR RBI M. Eastman 116 40 54 .466 3 27 R. Coombs 52 13 23 .442 2 15 N. Chaisson 94 25 39 .403 1 20 S. Coombs 107 32 43 .402 6 40 B. Wickett 39 13 15 .385 1 10 Z. Pelleriti 46 17 14 .370 0 6 A. Knowles 90 31 20 .344 1 23 J. Evans 105 27 35 .333 2 32 M. Halsted 75 20 25 .333 0 12 D. Theriault 100 35 27 .270 5 16

G. Sibley 7 2 4 .571 0 0 C. Hite 8 1 3 .375 0 1 M. Thibodeau 25 4 8 .320 0 2 J. Vetelino 62 13 15 .242 1 10 J. Clifford 13 2 3 .231 0 2 H. Commeau 16 3 1 .063 0 1 J. Wihbey 11 1 1 .091 0 2 N. Ballard 4 1 0 .000 0 0

Doubles: Eastman 12, S. Coombs 9, Chaisson 8, Theriault 7, Knowles 5

Triples: S. Coombs 2

Stolen bases: S. Coombs 7, Pelleriti 6, Theriault, Eastman 5

PITCHING Player IP ER ERA W L S S. Coombs 58 1/3 24 2.88 8 1 0 M. Thibodeau 41 16 2.73 6 0 0 G. Sibley 28 6 1.50 2 1 6 B. Wickett 36 2/3 17 4.39 3 2 1

Strikeouts: S. Coombs 66, Thibodeau 32, Sibley 26, Wickett 23