STANDISH — In a state championship baseball game involving three of the state’s preeminent left-handed pitchers, Trevor DeLaite proved to be the portside authority.
The senior from Bangor held previously unbeaten Falmouth to three hits – all singles – as the Rams rolled to their third straight Class A title with a 5-0 win Saturday at St. Joseph’s College.
“Not many teams can say they’ve won three in a row,” said DeLaite, who committed to the University of Maine after his freshman season at Bangor. “It’s pretty cool.”
DeLaite struck out 10 and walked three as Bangor (19-1) pitched its third shutout in four playoff games. The only serious Falmouth threat came in the fourth when the Yachtsmen (19-1) loaded the bases with two outs and DeLaite fell behind in the count 3-1 before pumping two fastballs across the plate for his eighth strikeout.
“He keeps you off balance, mixes it up well, hits his spots,” said Reece Armitage, who singled in the fourth and was the only Falmouth runner to reach third.
“It’s tough not seeing him before, not seeing anyone like that this year who is similar to him, but you can’t win if you don’t score.”
Armitage pitched the first five innings for Falmouth before giving way to Cam Guarino in the sixth. Each had allowed only three earned runs all season coming into the game. Bangor managed three hits and three runs off Armitage, who walked four and struck out four, and two unearned runs and four hits off Guarino.
“I thought Reece pitched great and I thought Cam came in and pitched great,” Falmouth Coach Kevin Winship said. “We just didn’t get the big hit when we needed it.”
DeLaite collected the game’s first hit after a one-out walk in the third, a double to right-center. Derek Fournier singled home one runner, and a fielder’s choice allowed DeLaite to score.
“As soon as they scored a couple runs, I knew it was going to be tough,” Winship said. “We know that if we get either Cam or Reece a couple runs, it’s game over.”
DeLaite short-circuited a potential rally in the Falmouth third with the first of two successful pickoff throws to first. He also picked off a runner in the fifth.
“It’s a good move,” Winship said. “I don’t agree with it not being a balk … but there’s nothing you can do. It’s not our call.”
The Rams made it 3-0 in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Jesse Colford and scored twice more in the sixth on singles by Peter Kemble, George Payne and Kyle Stevenson.
“We were very confident coming in,” said Stevenson. “We always are, with whoever’s on the mound, but especially Trevor. He’s just a dominant pitcher. We trust our defense and we trust what we’re going to do at the plate.”
Garrett Aube got the first Falmouth hit with a one-out single to right in the third.
Colin Coyne had Falmouth’s other hit, a grounder past third base.
“He wasn’t perfect, but he was pretty damn good,” said Bangor Coach Jeff Fahey of DeLaite, who compiled a 24-2 high school record. “I think he was getting a little tired at the end. I think he ended up with 110 (pitches), which is the most he’s thrown all year, but it was his game. As long as he told me he felt all right, I was going to let him finish.”
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