Gabe Gifford’s near perfection on the mound these days is not only leaving opponents little margin for error, it’s also led the Old Town baseball team to the brink of a state championship.
The Coyotes’ senior lefthander struck out 15 batters and walked three during a complete-game two-hitter Wednesday evening as coach Justin Crisafulli’s club knocked off defending state title holder Ellsworth 5-0 in the Class B North final at Mansfield Stadium.
The regional championship is the second in three years and fourth in the last seven seasons for 16-3 Old Town, which will face Class B South titlist Yarmouth for the state crown at 1 p.m. Saturday back at Mansfield Stadium.
The top-ranked Coyotes will attempt to add to their recent state championships in 2016 and 2021.
Third-seeded Ellsworth ended its season at 14-5.
“Old Town and Ellsworth these last three years, these games have been battles,” Crisafulli said. “It’s like the Celtics and the Lakers from the ’80s, back and forth, back and forth. I knew this would be a really good game and you’ve got to throw your No. 1 against Ellsworth because they can put up a lot of runs.”
Old Town’s No. 1, the University of Maine-bound Gifford, has now allowed no runs on three hits with 51 strikeouts in his last three starts covering 21 innings — including a no-hitter with 18 strikeouts against John Bapst of Bangor to conclude the regular season and a one-hitter with another 18 strikeouts in the regional quarterfinals against Mount Desert Island of Bar Harbor.
“He’s just a great athlete, so special,” Crisafulli said of Gifford, the Penobscot Valley Conference pitcher and player of the year for the second straight season and a finalist for the state’s Mr. Baseball award.
“When you put him on the mound, every single time out, no matter who you face you have a chance to win that game.You put up one or two runs and you’re going to win that game with Gabe on the mound.”
Gifford required 111 pitches, including 72 strikes, to improve his individual record this season to 9-0, using an effective mix of fastballs and sliders to secure his third victory of the spring over Ellsworth.
“I thought I did pretty good,” he said. “I knew if we got up early and I threw less than 60 pitches I’d be able to throw in the state game and that gets in your head and you’re not completely locked in. But once I got past that 60 mark I was able to lock and knew that this was my game.”
Gifford also got a boost from his batterymate, with catcher Jackson Lizzotte throwing out two of Ellsworth’s eight baserunners on stolen-base attempts.
“Gabe just was dominant on the mound from the beginning, trying to get ahead of batters as much as he could,” Lizzotte said. “We had our bumps along the way but he got the job done.”
Dawson Curtis, who pitched a complete-game three-hitter in Ellsworth’s semifinal victory over No. 2 Cony of Augusta last Saturday, got his second straight playoff start. The freshman lefthander scattered three hits over the first two innings before control issues led to Old Town scoring four runs in the bottom of the third without a hit.
James Dumond reached on an infield error to start the rally, then back-to-back walks to Lizzotte and Brendan Mahaney loaded the bases with nobody out.
Lucas Moore was hit with the next pitch to force home Dumond with the game’s first run, and a groundout to first base by Alex McCannell, the first batter faced by Ellsworth reliever Peter Keblinsky, made it 2-0.
Mahaney then scored on a wild pitch before Moore tallied the final run of the inning on Preston Vose’s sacrifice fly to left field.
“Gabe’s one of the best pitchers in the state and we knew we’d have to play perfectly,” Ellsworth coach Dan Curtis said. “That unraveled quickly and then when you’re behind like that it takes away some of the other things you can do but hats off to them, they played a great game.”
Gifford struck out nine batters in the first three innings, including four during the second inning as Ellsworth’s Wyatt Bragdon reached on a third-strike wild pitch with two outs.
The Eagles mounted their biggest threat an inning later. Miles Palmer drew a one-out walk and was sacrificed to second by Kyle Kenny, leading to Keblinsky being intentionally walked.
Gifford hit Brady Kenny with the next pitch to load the bases but kept his shutout intact with an inning-ending strikeout.
Old Town extended its lead to 5-0 in the fifth inning as Moore blasted a double to the left-center field fence and pinch-runner Carter Sevigny scored when McCannell flared a single to left.