PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — It’s the beginning of a new era for the Wildcat baseball program, with James York taking over the reins as varsity coach after the lengthy and successful career of Tim Olore came to an end last spring.
York served as Olore’s assistant for four seasons and had been PI’s junior varsity coach for four years prior to that.
Presque Isle is two years removed from a season in which it finished the regular season No. 1 in Eastern Maine Class B, and has a few players back from that team. Last season, the team barely reached the playoffs with a 6-10 mark and was ousted by Waterville in the preliminary round of the playoffs.
“We left too many men on base and didn’t get the timely hits needed to win the close games,” York recalls of the 2013 campaign. “Our pitchers and defense performed at a level we expected, but we were scoring only three or four runs a game.
Through seven games this year, the offense is again off to a bit of a slow start. Besides scoring eight runs in one of the doubleheader contests against Hermon April 24 to start the season, PI has scored four runs or less every outing, going 1-5 in its other six games. The team had been shut out twice heading into Tuesday night’s home game against Caribou.
Presque Isle relies heavily on senior Saul Nunez, who is one of the top pitchers in the league. He went 5-3 last year with a 1.05 earned run average, striking out 48 batters in 40 innings of work.
“He loves baseball and hates to lose, which is a great combination for a ballplayer like him,” York said. “We just have to do a better job as a team providing him with the run support that he deserves.”
When not pitching, Nunez will play shortstop.
Josh Gordon is another senior who is an aggressive leadoff hitter and a solid second baseman. York said he is a great role model as he works hard every day. When not at second, he could see time on the mound or behind the plate.
Tyler Seeley led the team and was among the league leaders in many offensive categories a year ago and returns as the Wildcats’ starting first baseman. Seeley, who drilled a long home run in Saturday’s game-one victory over Mount Desert Island, is coming off a season in which he batted .481 with nine RBI and 14 runs scored. He also has good speed on the base paths, going six for seven in steals in 2013.
Karson Wilcox is another senior who starts in center field and has been impressive at the plate in the early going.
Other key veterans are junior catcher/pitcher Ben Buckley and junior infielder/pitcher Andrew Paterson. Buckley was a regular last year and has developed into a fine all-around player, while Paterson is a key as the No. 2 pitcher behind Nunez, while also providing good infield defense and being a capable hitter as well.
Others who figure to be in the starting lineup throughout the season are sophomore Kyle Rider, junior Chase Norton and seniors Andrew Michaud, Frank Nunez and Aaron Kofstad. All are either inexperienced from last year or are new to the team, but have shown potential to contribute early on.
Junior Cristian Nunez, senior Conor Seward and sophomores Sam Gray and Cooper Madore round out the team. Katelyn Michaud, Paige Gagnon and Aubrie Gross are the managers and Derrick Kinney, who was a middle school coach for several years, is now York’s assistant.
“We have a lot of players who have been with the varsity team for several years, know the game well and understand that we have to come together aas a team if we are going to have a fighting chance,” York said. “So far, they have done a good job with that and now we need to build off it and score some runs. If we can do that and play solid defense, we have a very good chance of having a successful season.”
