49-3.
That’s not a football score. It’s the lopsided tally by which the Bangor Christian high school baseball team has outscored its opponents through the first three regular season games.
The Patriots have been absolutely dominant so far, notching a 10-0 win over Schenck of East Millinocket, a 24-1 victory over Searsport and a 15-2 win over Penobscot Valley.
Each of those games were called after five innings due to the 10-run rule.
“Honestly, everything has been working to start the season,” Bangor Christian coach Tim Collins said on Thursday. “We’re pretty much built on pitching and defense. So the pitching has been outstanding, the defense hasn’t had to, honestly, make a ton of plays. I think we’re only given up two or three hits at this point. And we throw strikes.”
Collins noted that pitching tends to have an advantage early in the year with teams less able to get outside to start the season due to spring conditions.
“What’s been a pleasant surprise for us is hitting the ball. We’ve hit the ball exceptionally well right through the order,” Collins said. “I’ve just been blown away with how well we’ve done at the plate.”
In addition to that balanced offensive production throughout the lineup, the Patriots pitching squad has been pretty close to perfect so far — especially team ace Cole Payne.
The senior star, identified ahead of the season by several opposing coaches as a tough matchup, has proved those predictions spot on so far. Payne has pitched a total of seven innings and already has a staggering 19 strikeouts. He fanned 13 hitters in five innings in the regular season opener against Schenck and gave up only one hit. And he followed that up by striking out six of the seven batters he faced in two innings of work against Searsport.
Collins said Payne benefited from being an underclassman when former Patriot Jason Libby was named Mr. Baseball two years ago.
“And I think he saw what it required to be the team’s ace,” said Collins, pointing to Payne’s work in the weight room during the offseason. “He’s put the work in. And so I’m really proud of him.”
And as good as Payne has been, Collins said a successful season for the Patriots may come down to the continued development and depth on the mound provided by sophomores Blaze Morris and Jack Kowalski. Collins also credited the role of freshman catcher Sam Cormier.
Morris and Kowwalski are part of a strong sophomore class that weathered a difficult freshman year last season, Collins explained.
“We took our lumps last year, believe me. We took a beating last year,” he said about the Patriots’ 7-9 regular season campaign a year ago. “Last year was just one of those years where we were super-duper young.”
The added experience is certainly showing so far this year with the team’s hot start. But Collins expects the rest of the season to be anything but easy. He expects close games, including Friday’s matchup against Sumner Memorial High School of Sullivan, and thinks that rematches against teams like Schenck will be challenging as well.
“There’s always a very well coached team,” he said about the team from East Millinocket, noting how the squads farther north in Maine have even less time to prepare for game action outside to start the season due to weather and field conditions. “Even when we play them next Wednesday, I expect that game to look very differently.”
Reigning Class D North champ Stearns of Millinocket and Machias loom large on the Patriots’ schedule as well. Having been on the other side of some lopsided contests last season, Collins has no interest in running up the score this year.
“You want the close games, you want the tight ones, you want the ones where you have to overcome adversity,” Collins said.
