For some members of the Post 14 Junior Legion baseball team, this has been a summer of wall-to-wall baseball. Five members of the team recently played for the Central Maine Babe Ruth 14-year old club that reached the championship game of the New England regional last week, and two played for the Post 51 American Legion team that reached the final day of the state tournament.

“These kids have played a lot of baseball,” Post 14 coach Rusty Mercier said.

Post 14 (17-4) has a little more baseball to play. The second-seed in the state Junior Legion tournament, Post 14 will face No. 3 Gray-New Gloucester at 11 a.m. today at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham. The four-team tournament is scheduled to run through Sunday. The other first round game features No. 4 Brunswick against No. 1 Tri-Town.

Post 14 advanced to the tournament by beating Libby-Mitchell Post of Scarborough 2-1 in a best-of-three series. First baseman/outfielder Alex Chesley drove in a pair of runs in Post 14’s 4-3 series-clinching win over Libby-Mitchell on Monday, leading a four-run rally in the sixth inning.

“(Chesley’s) really shown some power,” Mercier said.

Post 14 and Gray-New Gloucester played one game in the regular season, which Post 14 won 9-4.

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“That was quite some time ago, though,” Mercier said.

Because of a communication breakdown between the national Junior Legion organization and Maine leaders, the state tournament coincides with the New England tournament, Mercier said. All four teams in the state tournament were given the chance to instead go to Rhode Island for the New England regional, but all four opted to play for a state title instead. Portland and Libby-Mitchell planned to play a one-game playoff to see which will represent Maine at the New England tournament, Mercier said.

“We’re happy to be competing for the state title,” Mercier said.

Post 14 is made up of players from Lawrence and Messalonsee high schools. Pitching leaders include Patrick Breton, Cody Martin, Cole Robinson and Jesse Hines. Ben Frazee and J.T. Nutting, who each saw a lot of innings in the New England Babe Ruth 14-year old tournament, also could see time on the mound.

Along with Chesley, top hitters include first baseman Adam Littlefield, catchers Jacob Luce and Jonathan Wilkie, and infielders Joe LeClair, Spencer Folsom and Jared Cunningham.

“This is a very enthusiastic group,” Mercier said. “We’ve had a very good commitment out of this team.”

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

 


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