The Ellsworth High School baseball team broke for 10 hits in a 10-0 win at the previously undefeated Hermon on Thursday, and that could bode badly for rival Class B North teams trying to heal the Eagles from the top – Displace point scoring.
At 6-0, coach Dan Curtis’ club are now the only undefeated team in the division, although they recently scored just three goals in three games, but used their own pitching power, outstanding defense and timely offense to save everyone three competitions to win.
“We’re undefeated, but it was a slow start with our racquets,” senior second baseman Dan Howie said after Tuesday’s 1-0 win over Bucksport. “We still have to gain momentum.”
Part of Ellsworth’s offensive challenge was a series of opposing aces that the Eagles faced in their narrow wins over John Bapst of Bangor, Old Town and Bucksport that preceded the Eagles’ five-inning win at Hermon.
John Bapst’s Allen Wheaton combined with reliever Sam Bay to avoid hitting the Eagles, but Ellsworth hit two runs in the seventh inning to defeat the Crusaders 3-2.
Then, Old Town left-hander Gabe Gifford of Old Town only conceded a batter over 6 ⅔ innings before hitting the 110 pitch limit, and Ellsworth scored twice in the eighth inning for a 2–0 away win over the defending Class B -State Champion Coyotes.
Bucksport right-back Ty Giberson followed up with a two-hitter for the full game, but Howie hit a leadoff single late in the third inning and came around for an unearned run that was just enough to see the clean defense and to complement older right-hander Hunter Curtis. complete game with seven hits.
“We saw three great pitchers in those three games, and hopefully that helps us along,” Curtis said after his first pitching start that spring, a debut that included 11 strikeouts and no walks.
Ellsworth has his own big three on the mound in Curtis and classmates Craig Burnett and David Baugh, a starting tandem that has led the Eagles to five shutout wins in the team’s first six games while the Eagles generate enough offense have to surpass their opponents combined 37-2.
Burnett achieved the pitching win over Hermon with a three-hit shutout aided by two hits each from Baugh, Howie, and third baseman Michael Palmer, including Baugh’s double home run.
Ellsworth’s quick start marks a continuation of a strong streak in recent baseball in Hancock County’s Shiretown.
The Eagles reached the Class B North championship game in 2018 and won their first state championship in 31 years in 2019.
After the 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19, Ellsworth returned to the diamond last spring and reached the regional finals before being knocked out 6-0 by the University of Maine, Gifford and Old Town.
Ellsworth’s record since the start of the 2018 season stands at 56-9 ahead of Monday’s home game against Old Town and there are some similarities between this year’s club and preparations for the 2019 edition of the State Championship.
Each team had high pitching depth early on, with Curtis and Burnett leading this spring, while Burnett’s older brother Matt and Conner Wagstaff served as Ellsworth’s aces during his 19-1 campaign in 2019.
Both teams had solid postseason runs a year earlier and returned with six seniors, including Curtis – who plans to join older brother Jackson Curtis on the Bangor’s Husson University baseball team this fall – and Michael Palmer, also on the seniors in this year’s squad participated in 2019 as freshmen.
Curtis, Palmer, Craig Burnett, Baugh, Howie and Catcher, and leadoff hitter Brett Bragdon are the Eagles’ baseball class of 2022.
“I said that out of all the guys I’ve coached, this is probably the working group I’ve ever had,” said coach Curtis. “They show up at practice, I put it down and the rest of the time I don’t have to say another word. They are good leaders, the best students, it’s a piece of cake to be a coach when you have kids like that. It will be difficult to replace the lead next year. Talent keeps coming, but leadership is hard to come by.”
The Ellsworth baseball team also includes several key players from the Eagles basketball program, who last winter won their first 22 games to win the Class B North championship before losing 59-52 to Yarmouth in overtime in the state finals.
“It’s kind of like basketball,” said Hunter Curtis, a finalist for last season’s national Mr. Basketball award. “Last year we were young and super inexperienced. This year we came in and we have a bit of experience from our playoff run last year and we want to do good things.”