Driving home from an exhibition game at York High School on Monday, Monmouth Academy baseball coach Eric Palleschi and his assistant coaches discussed the upcoming Class C South playoffs. The top-seeded, undefeated Mustangs had a decision to make. Which of their three aces will start Thursday’s quarterfinal game?

“To be honest, that’s what we were talking about tonight on the ride home,” Palleschi said Monday night.

Winslow pitcher Nate Gagnon throws a pitch during the seventh inning of the regional final against Camden Hills last season at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor. File photo by Kevin Bennett

With Nick Sanborn, Hunter Richardson and Chandler Harris, Monmouth has three pitchers who would sit at the top of many high school rotations. Across the state, coaches in Palleschi’s position of pitching depth and those without it spent the start of this week putting together what they hope is the plan that ends with them raising the state championship trophy on the 18th.

According to the Maine Principals’ Association pitching rules, high school pitchers who throw in four innings or more in a game cannot pitch again until they’ve had three calendar days of rest. With just two or three days off between most playoff games, no team can rely on one strong arm to get through the postseason.

Winslow coach Aaron Wolfe said matchups are not the primary consideration in playoff rotation, although it can play for factor. For example, on Monday, Wolfe knew his Black Raiders would host either Nokomis or Foxcroft Academy in the quarterfinals. Winslow and Nokomis split a pair of regular-season games, and junior Nate Gagnon started each game against the Warriors. With that in mind, Wolfe said senior ace Jake Trask would get more consideration for the Thursday start.

In general, coaches have to start the best pitcher available, Wolfe said.

“You have to go for the win,” Wolfe said.

Saving your best pitcher for a possible game down the road means a team could get eliminated.

“You look awfully foolish if somebody’s sitting on the bench and you lose. If your best can go out there, you put him out there,” Palleschi said.

On Monday, Messalonskee coach Ray Bernier started junior Dustin Brown in the Class A North preliminary-round game against Cony. Brown got the nod over Josh Joy, a junior with more varsity experience. Bernier said the move wasn’t a calculated risk, considering Brown’s strong regular season.

“I feel comfortable with all our pitchers. I’m a pitching guy. Dustin has pitched great. He actually had the lowest ERA (1.24) on our team all year, so I had no issue coming with him this game or the next game,” Bernier said. “It worked out, rest-wise, that it was good for him to start and give Josh (a 1.40 earned run average) a couple extra days rest, and he’ll be good for Wednesday.”

Bernier was Messalonskee’s pitching coach when the Eagles won the Class A state championship in 2012 and a regional title in 2013. Those seasons, the Eagles went through the playoffs mixing and matching their pitching. A pitcher would get a few innings in a game. As soon as a pitcher throws one pitch in the fourth inning in a game, the three calendar days rest rule kicks in. Those seasons, Messalonskee pitchers rarely worked more than three innings in a playoff game, keeping all available for the team’s deep runs in the tournament.

On Monday, when Brown gave up two runs to Cony in the first inning of what became a 5-2 Messalonskee win, Bernier thought he may have to go the pitching by committee route. However, Brown found his groove, and went six innings before Bernier went to James Lathrop in the seventh inning for the save.

“(Monday), there was potential for that. It looked that way early. When Dustin was in trouble, I said, ‘we’ll probably have to piece this.’ He settled down, and I didn’t have to do that. I got James in there, just to mix it up,” Bernier said.

Palleschi said he’s apt to pull a pitcher in the playoffs sooner rather than later.

“I’m still going to have that mentality, if one guy doesn’t have it, let’s head to the next person. I don’t need anybody to gut out a performance,” Palleschi said.

Valley coach Scott Laweryson said the Cavaliers used the pitcher by committee strategy to win a first-round playoff game against Greenville last season. In his son, Cody, Laweryson has the best Class D pitcher in the state. The question Coach Laweryson faced this week was whether or not to start Cody — who is headed to the University of Maine — in Wednesday’s quarterfinal game against Vinalhaven? Or does he go to senior Luke Malloy, a strong pitcher in his own right, and save Cody for a possible semifinal matchup against Richmond, the only team to beat the Cavaliers in the regular season. Richmond beat Valley twice, with Laweryson pitching a few innings of dominant relief in the first meeting.

“We haven’t made a decision,” Coach Laweryson said Monday. “The best case scenario is to have all three available each game. We’re all going to have a game plan, then you get to the third inning and you need to make a decision.”

Wolfe remembers a tough pitching decision in the 2013 regional championship game, when he was an assistant coach at Winslow. The Black Raiders faced rival Waterville in the Class B East final. Ace Dylan Hapworth came on in relief of starter Logan Hewes. When the game went to extra innings, Wolfe and then-head coach Jesse Lacasse had a decision to make: Stick with Hapworth and risk having him unavailable for the state championship because of the three days rest rule, or take him out and risk not making the state game at all? Hapworth stayed in the game, which Winslow won 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Winslow started Don Camp, a senior who had not thrown a lot that season, in the state game against York, and that brings us back to the decision Wolfe faces on setting his rotation this week. The first guy out of the bullpen for the Black Raiders in the 2013 state championship game was Trask, now a senior.

Palleschi said once he sets a rotation, he’ll stick with it for as long as the Mustangs are playing.

“Who’s next in the rotation? I’ve always done it that way,” Palleschi said.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM

Related Stories