Jay coach Chris Bessey was hoping for light traffic on Route 4 after the Tigers dispatched Boothbay in the Western Class C semifinals Saturday.
Bessey tried to drive to Auburn in time to catch the end of the other semifinal between Monmouth and St. Dom’s. All he got to see, however, was the victorious, top-ranked Saints walking off the field winners. So he had to tap other resources for scouting reports – coaches, parents who saw the Saints play.
It wasn’t long before he realized that the line on the Saints reads a lot like it does on his own team.
“It seems like pitching is their strength and the play real good defense,” he said. “Hitting-wise, they don’t seem to be all that consistent, but then neither are we.”
The second-seeded Tigers (13-5) take the defense of their Class C state title to Gorham High School at 7 p.m. tonight for the regional championship against the Saints (16-2).
The Tigers’ confidence will be sky-high tonight. Justifiably so, because they’ll be sending senior Josh Armandi to the mound.
Armandi is 7-0 this year with a microscopic 0.60 ERA, 72 strikeouts and just 20 hits in 46 innings pitched, so the Tigers expect to win every time he takes the mound.
Perhaps even more important to Jay is the knowledge that Armandi has been here before. He pitched, and won, both the regional and state title games last year for the Tigers.
“I think it does a lot for us,” Bessey said of Armandi’s presence on the mound. “I know it does a lot for me.”
Jay will encounter a St. Dom’s team that is playing with a similar degree of confidence. Their starter, junior Ryan Turgeon (7-1), has been nearly as dominant as Armandi. Should he falter early, the Saints boast more pitching depth than the Tigers. Tyler Turgeon, Ian Pullen and Jimmy Mayo, among others, would be ready to take the ball.
Although they start only two seniors and haven’t been to a regional final since 1997, St. Dom’s won’t bow to the pressure of playing a more experienced team in the regional final, according to coach Allan Turgeon.
“We’ve got a mature baseball team,” said Turgeon. “A lot of these kids have played quite a few years now on the varsity level, and they’ve played in a lot of big games at a lot of different levels. They’re a young but experienced group. We’ve been playing great baseball. We try to keep the game simple. It starts with pitching, defense, and then hitting.”
Though they’ve scored a total of five runs in two playoff games, the Saints have been hitting the baseball better of late thanks to some surprise contributors. Jon Rutt came off the bench with a key hit in Saturday’s win over Monmouth, and freshman Mike Carpenter boasts nearly a .400 batting average this season.
“We’re putting some key hits together, which we hadn’t done in prior games,” coach Turgeon said.
The Tigers also have benefited from some unexpected sources of offense. Junior Shawn Jacques, their No. 9 hitter, is 6-for-6 in the playoffs, including a home run in the quarterfinals against Georges Valley.
Today’s tournament action at Bangor’s Mansfield Stadium includes the Eastern Class A final between second-seeded Oxford Hills (16-2) and No. 4 Mt. Ararat (14-4) at 3 p.m.
The Vikings and Eagles split their two meetings this season, with Oxford Hills winning the regular season tilt before dropping the KVAC playoff semifinal two weeks ago.
Incredibly, the Vikings were one-hit in both games. The difference in their victory, though, was that Mt. Ararat starter Jim Ouellette walked seven and had a couple of key errors made behind him.
The Eagles and their pitcher, Maine’s Gatorade Player of the Year Mark Rogers, didn’t make as many mistakes in the rematch. Rogers, who is 10-1 and has a no-hitter to his credit this season, will take the mound today. The Vikings will counter with Joe Baker (6-1), who two-hit Lawrence in the quarterfinals, or Garrett Olson (5-1), who has not pitched in the postseason.
rwhitehouse@sunjournal.com
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