HOULTON, Maine — As impressive as a 16-0 regular season record was for the Houlton baseball team last season, the sting of falling short in the postseason has yet to go away for veteran coach Jim Castner.
Now in his fifth year as Houlton’s head coach, Castner said his goal is simple — to improve.
“Every coach wants to be better than the year before,” he said. “It will be a tall task, but I think we can do better than we did last year. We have a good offense and I think now that we have playoff experience, we will not be as nervous in the playoffs as we were last year.”
Houlton was a high-scoring machine last season, plating an average of 11 runs per game, while swiping 89 bases on the year. As a team, the Shires batted .364, with 160 hits over the season.
Houlton rolled through the regular schedule unbeaten, earning the No. 2 seed in Class C North. The Shires beat No. 7 Washington Academy, 12-9, in the quarterfinals, edged No. 6 Bucksport, 5-4, in the semifinals and fell, 9-8, to No. 1 George Stevens Academy in the Northern Maine championship played in Bangor.
“I think we have a well balanced team, but I think that our pitching and hitting will be our strengths,” Castner said. “As you know, being inside for so long those are the two areas we can actually do a lot inside.”
However, the Shires lost three key players — Ryan Dee, Billy Phillips and Connor Grant — to graduation from last year’s team and will be looking for new people to fill that leadership void. Dee was a stellar pitcher (6-0, five complete games, 60 strikeouts, 11 walks and just four earned runs) for the team, while Phillips was a power-hitting infielder (28 hits, 23 RBIs, two home runs, .528 batting average) and Grant was the team’s most consistent hitter as evidenced by his .550 batting average.
Members of this year’s squad includes seniors Thomas Prescott (second base), Cameron Graham (pitcher, outfield), Nick Botting (outfield) and Dylan Johnston (second base); juniors Pat Howe (pitcher, outfield), Nick Perfitt (shortstop, third base, pitcher), Isia Bouchard (first base, pitcher), Morgan Phillips (catcher) and Colby Callnan (first base, pitcher); sophomores Tyler Bailey (pitcher, outfield) and Ryder Graham (third base); and freshmen Jason Collett (catcher, utility) and Keegan Gentle (outfield, shortstop, pitcher).
“We need to improve on our team defense this year,” Castner said. “With the new pitch count in play this year, pitchers will have to be more over the plate, which means more pitches will be hit in play.”
A new pitch count rule will be in effect this season. Previously, Maine had limits on innings pitched, but not for number of pitches. This season, varsity pitchers will be limited to 110 pitches in a game and will be required to take rest days based on the number of pitches thrown.
Houlton tentatively opens its season Wednesday, April 19, playing Mattanawcook Academy in Lincoln at 4 p.m.
