TJ Llerena is one of the state’s premier shortstops, according to Hampden Quirk Motor City Riverdogs Post 24 Senior American Legion baseball coach Frank Peckham.
But he can also pitch and he proved that during the Riverdogs’ march to a second state championship in three years at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor over the last week.
Llerena tossed a three-hit shutout on Wednesday night as the Riverdogs edged the Franklin County Flyers from Farmington 2-0 in the championship game. The Riverdogs advanced to the Northeast Regional tournament in Manchester, N.H. and will open with a 9:30 a.m. game on Wednesday against the Massachusetts runner up.
Llerena had thrown five shutout innings in a 10-0 five-inning mercy rule victory over Hight-Skowhegan in their second tournament game.
The University of Southern Maine-bound Llerena, who also hit .562 with a team-high eight runs-batted-in during their five tournament games, earned Most Valuable Player honors.
“He earned every bit of it,” said Peckham. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a pitcher dominate games like he did in the tournament.”
Peckham said Llerena pounded the strike zone. He had a good fastball that was clocked as high as 87 mph on the radar gun and his breaking ball was excellent.
Llerna said he usually doesn’t pitch as well as he did in the tournament.
“I guess, in this tournament, something else clicked,” said Llerena. “My curveball was working. I just had the confidence. And my defense behind me was outstanding. I think (second baseman) Garrett McLeod had three plays in one inning (against Franklin County).”
He said it was definitely nice to be named the tournament MVP but added that he wouldn’t have been in position to win it without his teammates.
The Riverdogs, composed entirely of players from Hampden Academy, were short handed on the mound because one of their top pitchers, Kaysen Wildman, wasn’t able to throw due to shoulder tenderness. And Collin Peckham had to leave the opener, a 15-3 win over the Boothbay 36ers, with neck soreness.
But young pitchers Ashton O’Roak and Jacob Kelley teamed up to beat Franklin County 10-2 in the pivotal third game of the tournament to earn the Riverdogs a berth in the championship game and Nykson Moors turned in a solid performance in their only loss to defending champ Trenton 9-6 in the fourth game.
The Riverdogs erupted at the plate, scoring 43 runs in their five games.
Peckham praised his players for upping their offensive production.
“It’s amazing how patient they were at the plate. They didn’t chase (bad) pitches. They drew a lot of walks. They ran the bases well and executed hit-and-runs just flawlessly on a number of occasions. As well as I’ve ever seen from a team this age,” Peckham said.
Senior American Legion players are 19 and under.
He said a number of guys had great performances.
Catcher Rogan Lord led the way as he hit .571 with eight hits during the tourney. Llerena was next at .562 and left fielder Gavin Monyok hit .500 in limited duty and had the decisive two-run double in the championship game. Second baseman-shortstop Andrew Cote hit .421, O’Roak, who played left field when he wasn’t pitching, hit .400 and third baseman-second baseman McLeod turned in a .333 showing.
Wildman, who was able to play first base, was second behind Llerena in runs-batted-in with six. Right fielder-pitcher Peckham and center fielder Zachary McLaughlin each drove in five runs.
“Over the course of the season, we began understanding plate discipline,” said Llerena, who also played for the Gorham Lightning of the Greater Northeast Collegiate Baseball League this summer. “We started stringing together some really good (at-bats), especially in the tournament.”
The title was especially meaningful to the players after they went 15-1 for the Hampden Academy Broncos during the regular season in the spring and earned the top seed in the Class A North only to be upset by eighth-seed Brewer 1-0 in the quarterfinals in a terrific pitching duel between Wildman and Brewer’s Grady Vanidestine.
They had also been ousted in the quarterfinals in 2023.
“That was absolutely devastating,” said Llerena. “We had done so well during the regular season only to get knocked out in the first round again.
“That definitely helped motivate us for the Riverdog season,” said Llerena.
The Riverdogs proved to be resilient because head coach Jon Perry stepped down late in the season due to what Perry termed “personal and health reasons.”
Perry, the Hampden Academy baseball coach, said Peckham did a fantastic job coaching the team.
Peckham had been the team’s manager, doing what he described as logistical things like running the scoreboard.
“I was glad to step in at that point and I focused on letting the kids do what came naturally to them,” said Peckham. “Jon is a great coach and really instilled the fundamentals.”
Llerena praised the coaching the team received.
“They are both great coaches and great guys,” said Llerena. “It really talks to the camaraderie on the team and how well we fit together that it wasn’t as big a hiccup as it could have been.”
The other team members are Josh Lorenzo, Keaghan Burger, Logan Powers, Kade Bartlett and Chase Nash.
