Despite not advancing to the semifinals, the first-time Maine state and Northeast Regional champion Trenton Acadians gave a good account of themselves in their debut at the American Legion World Series.
The Acadians bounced back from an ugly 13-3 opening-game loss to defending champion Troy, Alabama, to play well in a heart-breaking 2-1 loss to Cheyenne, Wyoming, before concluding the tournament with a 4-2 victory over League City, Texas, at Keeter Stadium in Shelby, North Carolina.
It was League City and Cheyenne that each went 2-1 in their four-team Stars Division to earn berths in the Monday semifinals against Stripes Division representatives Brooklawn, New Jersey, and Lincoln, Nebraska.
Cheyenne and League City had each beaten Troy by identical 3-2 scores.
“I was happy with the way we competed but I still have a sour taste in my mouth from game one,” said Trenton coach Brad Smith, whose pitchers issued 15 walks, hit four batters and threw five wild pitches in the Troy loss.
The Acadians were trailing just 2-0 after four innings but gave up eight runs in the fifth inning on six walks, three wild pitches, two hit batters and two singles.
“We weren’t in the right mindset in the first game but we brought it in games two and three and I couldn’t have been prouder of the way we competed,” Smith added.
Trenton center fielder-pitcher Hunter Curtis, who had an outstanding tournament, said he had a talk with his teammates after that opening-game loss.
“I told them we belong down here. We can compete with these teams,” Curtis said. “After that, we did a great job. We showed people Maine baseball isn’t what they think it is. We competed. We’re happy we won that last game.”
Lincoln won the Stripes Division and faced Stars Division runner-up Cheyenne at 4 p.m. with Stars Division champ League City squaring off against Stripes runner up Brooklawn at 7 p.m.
The championship game is on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Curtis, the North Atlantic Conference Rookie of the Year from Bangor’s Husson University this past spring, went 3-for-7 at the plate (.429) with a homer and five runs batted in during the tournament. He also pitched a complete-game five-hitter to beat League City, in which he allowed two earned runs, struck out five and issued no walks.
The Acadians also received a terrific pitching performance from Peter Keblinsky, who tossed a three-hitter and allowed only one run in 6 ⅔ innings of the 2-1 walk-off loss to Cheyenne. He struck out five and walked two.
He had to come out of the game with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the seventh because he had exceeded the 105-pitch count. Cheyenne touched up Miles Palmer for the winning run on a hit batter and a double.
The Acadians mustered only two hits against Cheyenne and hit just .159 (11-for-69) in the tournament after hitting .299 in the Northeast Regional.
Third baseman Wyatt Bragdon was the only Acadian besides Curtis to have more than one hit, as he went 2-for-5 with a pair of singles.
“The hitters did fine but we just couldn’t find the holes like we did in the regional,” Smith said. “But I was proud of the way they battled through it.”
Curtis’ homer against Troy and Colin Sullivan’s double against League City were the Acadians’ only extra base hits. Keblinsky, David Baugh, A.J. Lozano, Joey Wellman-Clouse and Dawson Curtis each had a base hit in the tourney.
The tourney itself was a memorable one for the Acadians.
“They treated us really well,” said Hunter Curtis, who noted that the team’s host family had a barbecue lunch for the players on Saturday during their day off. “And our parents and families who have been super supportive all year long rented a house on a lake and I had a great time hanging out with them and the guys.”
“I don’t know how to put it into words. It was awesome,” Smith said. “The field was beautiful. We had flyovers during the national anthem and things like that. It felt like such a big deal. The guys got a chance to sign baseballs.”
The Acadians, who won the state title for the first time in program history dating back to 1979, concluded the season with a 22-7 record including 15 wins in their last 18 games.
The team includes players who played for or used to play at Ellsworth High School, Bar Harbor’s Mount Desert Island High School and Blue Hill’s George Stevens Academy.
Smith is looking forward to next season.
“We are losing a lot of guys and a lot of talent, but the younger kids gained some experience these past couple of weeks and they will be ready to step up next season,” Smith said.
The Acadians’ Junior American Legion team also won the state tournament.