Maine Team Of The Week - South Portland
May 1, 2019
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Maine Team Of The Week - South Portland
SOUTH PORTLAND, Me. - Weather has created havoc on the South Portland baseball season so far. But what the Red Riots have shown when given the opportunity is a team with strong pitching and a lot of promise.
It has South Portland recognized as the Maine Prep Baseball Report Team of the Week.
“We’ve had seven games rescheduled, the same game four times,” explained head coach Mike Owens.
But in three games played prior to this week, counting a preseason contest with Bangor, the Red Riots have shined. An 8-0 win over Windham in a league contest is the highlight while a 1-0 non-league victory over Pinkerton Academy, a Final Four team in New Hampshire three of the past six years, showed what South Portland could be about this season.
“We have two guys at the top of the staff,” Owens said about Hunter Owen (Video), who started against both Windham and Pinkerton, and Noah Lewis, who closed each game. “Both throw hard and throw strikes consistently. In those two games we only walked two guys. Hunter allowed three singles with 12 Ks in six innings of his last game.”
A 6-5 235-pound left-hander committed to Vanderbilt, Owen is the top-ranked junior in New England.
Another strength early on is the defense.
“We have had no errors in the first two games,” Owens said. “It’s been difficult for teams to score with the good pitching we have if they have to get three hits in an inning to score. When they have gotten on base, we’ve got some big strikeouts.”
Owens admits to some uncertainty as the season began.
“There were a lot of question marks heading in and with the weather we’ve been getting, we’ve not been able to get outside much,” Owens explained. “I’ve been very pleased the way guys have stepped in. Every single infielder we have is new and we have two new outfielders. I knew they had some talent but they’ve not seen this level of competition.”
An all-junior infield consists of Tyler Small or Owen at first base with Anthony Poole, an outfielder a year ago before an injury, at second base. Lewis plays short with Poole moving over when Lewis goes to the mound. Gus Lappin is at third base.
“Our defense has been a little bit of a surprise,” admitted Owens, whose team continued success this week with a 10-0 victory over Sanford and a 6-3 triumph over Noble. “I’ve been really pleased to see us play errorless baseball with our pitching.
“We have some good bats, potentially they’re going to get going, so if we can continue to play solid defense we will be tough to beat.”
Senior Caden Horton, a three-year starter, is one of the leaders on the team at catcher. The three-hole hitter had a pair of hits and three RBIs against Windham.
“We’ve had a balanced attack so far,” noted Owens, who received six hits from two-hole hitter Andrew Varipatis in the most recent wins against Sanford and Noble.
Designated hitter Matt Wolf, the only other senior on the team besides Horton, had four hits in the first two games and five counting the Bangor preseason game.
“He’s a senior that’s never played varsity, so he’s a pleasant surprise for us,” Owens said.
With the schedule about to heat up, Owens looks forward to finding more out about his squad.
“We’ve got a lot of games coming up so we’re going to have to rely on our depth and I think we have that,” Owens noted. “This is going to give our guys an opportunity to show what they can do. We’re looking for a third starter to step up. We need to see what guys we can rely on.”
Lappin, a 5-11 165-pound junior right-hander, is the probable third starting pitcher with sophomore left-hander Bradley McMains and junior right-hander Garon Kelley expected to battle for innings once the weather cooperates. Kelley picked up the win against Sanford with McMains and junior Anthony Perron also pitching while Lewis was the winner versus Noble with Lappin earning the save.