Portland pitches its way to state title in Connecticut high school baseball

The final two weeks of the regular season were a bit hectic and messy for the Portland (Conn.) baseball team.

The ending, however, was all the Highlanders could've asked for...and more.

Portland, seeded 17th out of 31 teams in the CIAC Class S tournament, won its final five games of the season to win its first state title since 1988.

The Highlanders (16-10) outscored their opponents by 24-2 during states. Junior Cole Ogorzalek and senior Jason Staub pitched back-to-back one-hitters in the semifinals and finals, respectively.

"They did something that's really difficult," Portland coach Rick Borg said. "And not only did they do something difficult, they made it look pretty easy."

See all state baseball champions from around the country here.

A combination of rainouts and school trips resulted in the Highlanders playing six games in nine days prior to the state tournament. They lost the final four of those six games.

"We played on (Saturday, May 24), Memorial Day and Tuesday (after the holiday)," Borg said. "We were in a funk and never really had a chance to have a practice day to get out of it."

The last of those losses was to Westbrook, 1-0, in the Shoreline Conference tournament. It may have been for the best as it gave Portland five days to rest and prepare before states.

"That was the longest stretch of time since the season started for us to actually work on some things; talk about some things," Borg said. "We made some minor adjustments to the batting order. That practice time, I'd like to believe, helped us going into (states)."

Complete state Class S tournament bracket here.

Two other promising signs for the Highlanders were that their pitching had been strong almost the entire season, and they were never blown out. Their average loss was by 1.8 runs. Their biggest loss was 4-0 (to Westbrook, May 7).

"We had a chance in almost all of those games," Borg said. "We just didn't hit well enough, and our pitchers always seemed to be pitching under duress.

"Fortunately we had a lot of pitchers. (Senior) Jake Strong took a lot of innings for us during the season, so we didn't have to use (ace) Staub (too much). Whenever Jason pitched, he was rested. That helped when we got to the postseason."

Portland opened the states with a 5-0 road win at Coventry in the first round. It followed that with a 4-1, second-round win at top-seeded East Hampton, a fellow Shoreline Conference member.

It was the second time in three meetings that Portland beat the Bellringers (19-4). They were also the only team to beat the latter twice this season.

Portland beat another Shoreline foe, Old Lyme, 3-1 in the quarterfinals.

Ogorzalek struck out nine to stymie FCIAC member Trinity Catholic in a 4-0 semifinal win. Senior Josh Scovill went 2-for-3 and scored twice and classmate Mike Bordonaro and junior Leo Thomas each had RBIs in a three-run, sixth inning.

"As a coach, you're always worried," Borg said. "Looking back at it now, there was a quote in the paper from the Trinity Catholic coach (Tracy Nichols) that they ran into a team that was hot and on a mission and this is their year and things like that.

"A coach never thinks that way, but he might have been right."

Portland saved its best game for last. It scored four times in the first inning and Staub struck out six as it routed third-seeded Thomaston, 8-0, at Palmer Field.

Senior Hayden Manning hit a two-run double for the Highlanders and junior Jon Dolan added a two-run single.

"Two runs (allowed) in the tournament, I think most teams would take their chances if they've only given up two runs," Borg said. "That was beyond good pitching. That was amazing pitching, and the in the semifinals and finals to only allow one hit in each of those games.

"The Thomaston game, the way we came out was totally unexpected."

Ned Griffen has covered high school, college and professional sports in the Northeast since 1992. A 2003 New England Associated Press News Executives award winner, he may be reached at nedgriffen@gmail.com or follow him @MetalNED.