BANGOR, Maine — Statistics tell much of why the Bangor Coffee News Comrades are off to the Northeast regional championships this week after winning the program’s third state championship in the last four years.
In particular, a pitching staff that tossed three shutouts and yielded just five earned runs over 44 innings during five state tournament games compensated for an offense that proved timely but struggled at times until breaking loose for 12 hits in Sunday’s 9-4 championship-game victory over Yankee Ford of South Portland at Husson University.
Jesse Colford, cut from the junior varsity team as a freshman at Bangor High School only to be part of the starting rotation on the collegiate level as a freshman at Husson this spring, was the definitive ace, winning both his starts with a tournament-MVP effort highlighted by 28 strikeouts in 14 1/3 innings.
Gary Farnham, who will get the start when Bangor Coffee News opens regional play in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday against Franklin County, Vermont, came within two outs of a complete-game shutout during his state-tourney start. Ethan Stoddard pitched eight shutout innings during a Day 3 victory over Yankee Ford.
“They came to play and they hit their spots,” Tyler Parke, who played center field for Bangor during the high school season and catcher for the Comrades this summer, said. “I tell them every start if you just hit spots we’ll will get out of it and win the game.”
Perhaps the most telling statistic that follows this team reflects the success of Bangor’s baseball program at the high school and American Legion levels over the last four years.
Those squads have reached the state finals in all eight of those baseball seasons, compiling a 7-1 record with the championship trophy at stake.
“It’s a tribute to the kids and just how dedicated they are,” said Dave Morris, the head coach for three Legion state titles and Bangor High’s fourth straight Class A crown this spring as well as serving as an assistant under the retired Jeff Fahey for the high school championships in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
“It’s not only that they’ve been successful, but they’ve done the work to put themselves in position to have these opportunities.”
This summer’s Legion team, 18-6 entering the eight-team Northeast regional that runs from Wednesday through Sunday, features a blend of veterans who returned after their first year of college for a final year of Legion eligibility, three newcomers from the former Motor City Legion team that folded this spring, and a nucleus of players fresh from Bangor High School’s most recent state-championship club.
“This was our main goal from the beginning,” Colford said. “At times it may have looked like it wasn’t possible but you always have that vision so when you get in the tournaments you keep grinding and grinding. We just grinded all the way through, and we got here.”
The previous championship seasons as well as their own successes — Motor City additions Stoddard and Austin Sheehan also were key cogs in Old Town High School’s 2016 Class B state-title team — have proven valuable in this effort.
“A lot of the players from five, six, seven years ago set the path and these guys came up through and took their opportunities to start or pinch-hit when they got the chance to build up to this point,” Morris said.
“We’ve had some young players who have had terrific years: Zach Cowperthwaite, Noah Missbrenner, Tyler Parke, Zach Murray, Noah Tappan, Zach Ireland. There’s so many of those young guys who have stepped in and filled some really big shoes and picked up where we left off — that’s the amazing thing.
“It really starts with the commitment and dedication they have.”
