STANDISH, Maine — Trevor DeLaite and Kyle Stevenson joined the Bangor High School baseball program as rare freshman starters for the Rams in 2013.
They concluded their interscholastic careers Saturday by leading coach Jeff Fahey’s club to its third consecutive state championship.
DeLaite pitched a three-hit shutout and Stevenson broke the game open with a two-run single in the top of the sixth inning as Bangor defeated previously undefeated Falmouth 5-0 in the Class A state final at Saint Joseph’s College.
“I was hoping to just do the best I could to help the team win,” Stevenson recalled upon first becoming the Rams’ starting shortstop. “I don’t think I ever imagined winning three in a row. It’s pretty surreal.”
For Bangor, it also marked the 100th state championship in school history and 12th in baseball since 1970.
“Not many people can say they’ve won three in a row or even got here three times in a row,” DeLaite said. “You can’t be not satisfied with this this. It’s pretty special.”
Both finalists ended their seasons with a 19-1 record.
“One thing I thought was a big advantage to us was how many big games our guys have been in,” said Fahey, whose roster features numerous players who also have been part of two state championship American Legion clubs as well as a team that reached 2014 Senior League World Series semifinals.
“We’ve got some guys who play really hard and they show very little emotion, they just do their jobs,” Fahey said. “That’s five state championships in two-plus years. That’s impressive.”
DeLaite (9-1) struck out 10 batters and walked three while throwing a season-high 110 pitches in pitching Bangor’s 10th shutout of the spring and fifth in six games since the Rams’ lone loss of the season to Edward Little of Auburn on May 23.
“He’s an excellent pitcher, there’s a reason he’s going to Maine,” Falmouth coach Kevin Winship said. “He had his stuff today, I thought he threw very well. When he’d get in trouble he’d come back with that curveball, he threw the curveball for a strike any time he wanted. I think that’s what really kept us off balance.”
The senior left-hander and Mr. Baseball finalist faced just one threat, in the bottom of the fourth, when Falmouth loaded the bases with two outs on singles by Reece Armitage and Colin Coyne and a walk to Chris Camelio.
But DeLaite regrouped quickly, rallying from a 3-1 count for an inning-ending strikeout of Jesse Melchiskey.
“I just think Trevor went right after them and said, ‘Look, ‘I’m going to challenge you,’” Fahey said. “And that’s what he did.”
DeLaite, who finished his four-year high school career at Bangor with a 24-2 record, also picked off two runners to prevent the Yachtsmen from getting rallies started in the third and fifth innings.
“I think of certain counts that our team or myself would run in,” DeLaite said of his pickoff strategy, “and I try to make it look like I’m going to the plate as long as possible without balking.”
Stevenson had two singles, a walk, a stolen base, two RBIs and two runs scored out of the leadoff spot in the Bangor batting order as the Rams amassed seven hits against Falmouth left-handers Armitage and Cam Guarino — a duo that yielded just three hits in three Class A South postseason victories.
Junior rightfielder Peter Kemble added two singles, a run scored and an RBI for the champions, while DeLaite doubled, walked twice and scored a run.
Bangor took a 2-0 lead against Armitage in the top of the third. Stevenson drew a one-out walk and DeLaite doubled to right-center, Derek Fournier then fisted an inside pitch to center to drive home Stevenson, and Kemble followed a walk to Jesse Colford with a fielder’s choice grounder that plated DeLaite.
The Rams manufactured their third run in the fifth. Stevenson singled to right and stole second before advancing to third on a sacrifice by Fournier and scoring on Colford’s sacrifice fly to center.
Guarino came on in relief of Armitage in the sixth, and Bangor greeted him by sending eight batters to the plate.
A single by Kemble and an errant throw by Falmouth catcher Garrett Aube on a sacrifice by Nick Cowperthwaite put runners on first and second with no one out. George Payne’s one-out single to left loaded the bases before Stevenson lined a single to right that drove home the game’s final two runs.
“We were talking on the way down and said if we were another team collecting a scouting report on us, what would be the good things and the weaknesses that somebody might say about us, and to tell you the truth we couldn’t think of too many weaknesses,” Fahey said.
“We’ve got outfielders that can throw and cover ground, we’ve got pitchers who can pitch, we’ve got a great catcher, we play solid defense, we don’t give up runs and when we hit, we’re advantageous sometimes but we make pitchers work,” Fahey said.
“As impressive as winning three in a row is, I think what we just did in the playoffs with three shutouts in four games and giving up just two runs, it may not be a record but it feels like it is.”
