STANDISH — Behind the hitting of Andrew Cimino and the pitching of Caleb Jordan, the Greely Rangers captured the Class B baseball state championship with a 4-0 victory over Winslow early Saturday evening at St. Joseph´s College.

Jordan struck out eight and held Winslow to three hits -- the same number collected by Cimino -- to finish off a remarkable playoff run.

Last Saturday in the Western Maine semifinals, Greely (18-2) overcame a five-run deficit in its final at-bat to beat Mountain Valley.

"To be down five in the bottom of the seventh and to come up with six runs, you just got the feeling this team was not going to be denied," said Greely Coach Derek Soule. "I can´t describe how much that comeback reenergized us. It´s like a surge of adrenaline that lasted for a week."

Winslow (16-4) had chances early against Jordan, stranding a runner at third base in each of the first two innings.

"With Caleb, if you don´t get to him early, you usually don´t get to him," Soule said.

Jordan allowed only one baserunner as far as second the rest of the game. He retired eight in a row in one stretch and issued only one walk.

Greely staked Jordan to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first thanks to a barely checked swing by Ryan Robb.

After a one-out single by Cimino, Robb left his bat wavering over the plate on a 2-2 pitch. Winslow´s appeal to first-base umpire Steve Tricomi was denied -- "I thought he was going to punch me out," Robb said -- which opened the door for Cimino to take off on the full count.

Thus, when Robb hit a seemingly harmless grounder, Winslow shortstop Justin Lindie couldn´t make an easy throw to second for the force. Instead his hurried throw to first skipped in the dirt and sent Robb and Cimino to second and third.

Jordan´s shallow sacrifice fly to center then scored Cimino.

"That run was so huge," Jordan said. "It allowed me to settle down."

"I saw their arms warming up," Soule said, "and I thought we could take some chances with their outfielders. Also, I wanted to be aggressive on the basepaths."

Indeed, the Rangers stole second base four times in the fourth inning, leading to a pair of runs on consecutive singles by Nate Mecray and Adam Norton. They made it 4-0 in the fifth when Robb led off with a walk and scored after singles by Matt Reade and Matt McDonough.

Defensively, the Rangers squelched potential Winslow rallies in the fifth -- when shortstop Sam Stauber barehanded a grounder that deflected off second baseman Shawn Sanville -- and in the sixth -- when Robb leaned into the stands to catch a foul ball with two on and two outs.

"The ball had so much air under it that I could scope (the situation) out a little bit," Robb said. "The (Winslow spectators) actually moved out of the way. That was a good way to end that inning, to pick Caleb up any way we can, because he picked us up a lot."

Jordan finished off the game with a pair of strikeouts, leading to a midair chest bump with his catcher, Norton, as the Rangers converged in a scrum to celebrate the school´s third baseball title.

Staff Writer Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or at:

gjordan@pressherald.com