Scarborough’s Erik Swenson has committed to the University of Maine to play baseball and is one of the dominant pitchers in Maine this season. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

The abundance of quality pitching in Maine high school baseball has rightly received plenty of attention in recent seasons. This season, the headliners are Vanderbilt commit Wyatt Nadeau at Gorham and Scarborough senior Erik Swenson, who is committed to UMaine and is the returning ace for the defending Class A champion Red Storm.

But the wealth of top-quality pitching is spread far and wide in southern Maine.

How about Biddeford senior Gavin Haggett, a sturdy 6-foot-1 lefty who will play college ball at Division II Stonehill College? Haggett has been a key reason why the Tigers are 4-0 at the quarter pole after going 5-11 in 2024. He recently threw four hitless innings in a 13-1 five-inning rout of Kennebunk, adding a two-run homer to his own cause.

“He’s been a starter for us since his freshman season and he’s just gotten bigger and stronger each year. He really bought into the weight room,” said Biddeford coach Keith LeBlanc. “I would say he’s a mid-80s fastball, maybe a little higher, but as a left-hander he has good movement, real good off-speed stuff.”

Greely’s Keeler Vogt has pitched back-to-back complete games, including a no-hitter. In those two games, he has 28 strikeouts. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald

In Class B, Keeler Vogt of Greely has been outstanding. And teammate Gehrig Donnelly is matching him in terms of results.

Vogt, an imposing 6-3 Colby College commit with a fastball that can reach the low 90s, pitched a no-hitter against rival Yarmouth in a 4-0 win, striking out 15 and walking one batter, in the sixth inning. He followed that up Monday with a complete-game, 13-strikeout 5-2 victory against Edward Little.

“He throws four pitches really well, and when he has good location, he’s really tough to beat, and against Yarmouth his location was really good,” said Greely coach Derek Soule. “He’s hitting corners, he’s moving the ball up and down in the zone.”

Donnelly pitched a 1-0 five-hitter against Cape Elizabeth on Friday. Greely (6-0) only had three hits against Cape starter Brady Inman.

In York, senior left-hander Jack Joyce struck out 10 in a complete-game 6-1 win against Fryeburg Academy, notching his 100th career strikeout and hitting a two-run homer in the process. That followed an 11-1 win at Morse.

Joyce was roughed up by Yarmouth in a crazy 17-13 season opener that York won in six innings when the game was called because of darkness.

“Jack kind of walked away from that game with an attitude of ‘All right, we have some work to do,'” said York coach Nick Hanlon. “For him, it’s about throwing hard, but also hitting his spots and getting his off-speed working, and he was doing a fantastic job against Fryeburg.”

Both Hanlon and Soule praised Fryeburg’s junior pitching tandem of Alex Allain and Brady Chappell, who missed his sophomore season because of an ACL tear. He opened the season with an 11-strikeout, one-hitter against Gray-New Gloucester and is another hard-thrower whose fastball has been clocked in the 90s.

“The first two innings, it felt as though (Chappell) was touching high 80s, low 90s, against us,” Hanlon said.

And the far from all-inclusive list goes on: South Portland (4-0) junior Hudson Iacuessa is 2-0 with 26 strikeouts in 12 scoreless innings. Scarborough’s Ryan Shugars, also 2-0, struck out 14 over six innings in a 4-2 win against Bonny Eagle. Thornton Academy is 3-0, and Beck Edgerly shut out Kennebunk in the Trojans’ most recent win.

And what about the aforementioned Nadeau and Swenson?

Ask Falmouth.

The Navigators’ own staff has been sharp, allowing only seven runs in four games. But Falmouth is 2-2 because Nadeau shut them out, 3-0, on a one-hitter last Thursday, and Swenson was even tougher on Monday, throwing a no-hitter while striking out nine and walking just one in a 1-0 Scarborough win.

CONY IN CONTROL

Don Plourde was frustrated to see Cony let a potential win slip away in a 3-2 season-opening loss to Messalonskee. The way the Rams bounced back has been exactly what their coach wanted to see — especially on the mound.

Parker Morin is among the pitchers who has helped Cony get off to a 4-1 start. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

Cony has won four straight since that loss on April 23, including two shutouts. Jack Spellman and Landen Perry combined for a no-hitter in a 3-0 win on April 28 against Lawrence, before Max Tibbetts and Parker Morin threw a one-hitter in a 11-0 victory Monday against Monmouth Academy.

In the two games that weren’t shutouts, the Rams didn’t walk a single batter. Josh Lajoie, Spellman and Morin combined for nine strikeouts and no walks on April 25 in a 14-1 over Erskine Academy. Jordan Benedict and Morin didn’t issue a walk last Wednesday in a 13-4 win over Oceanside.

“We really keep focusing on continuing to attack hitters,” Plourde said. “I tell my guys, ‘Hey, baseball is the only sport where the team that’s on defense has the ball, so you’re in control.’ We attack the zone; that’s our philosophy, and that’s not going to change.”

LOSING STREAK SNAPPED

Dirigo ended a 20-game losing streak on Thursday with a 4-2 victory over Boothbay.

First-year coach Derek Volkernick said coming into the season that the players had the streak on their minds.

“There was a lot of discussion around it, for sure,” Volkernick said. “I think you could tell there was some, you know, they were feeling it a bit. And it wasn’t until the final out was recorded that we finally felt it. It was actually over, but it was cool to see the kids excited about baseball again, and the fans, you know, I know, it’s been a while since they had won a game, but it was cool to see everybody kind of back into the swing of things.”

Dirigo has four seniors on its 16-man roster.

“I think the thing that’s really exciting with our team now is kind of getting over that hump of that first game, getting that first win, but we’re still really young,” Volkernick said. “I think there’s a lot of potential to see (a) return to those winning ways. But to get the first one out of the way, I think it was much needed.”

MT. ABRAM WINNING DESPITE MISTAKES

Mt. Abram coach Jeff Pillsbury is happy with his offense and says the pitching staff is making progress. He would like to see the Roadrunners (4-1) improve defensively. They have 20 errors in their first five games.

“Well, we can get away with a mistake,” Pillsbury said. “But … the good teams, if you make mistakes, they can make you pay. A lot of times when you’re playing good teams, one inning either way can change the game.”

Limiting mistakes will be crucial this week. Mt. Abram plays Class C South contender Old Orchard Beach on Wednesday and defending Class D champion St. Dom’s on Friday.