Old Orchard Beach, ME – The CMCC Baseball team took home the 2025 Yankee Small College Conference championship with a 7-6 victory over rival SMCC in a 13-inning game at The Ballpark in OOB, that will go down in the YSCC record books as an instant classic. The game was a roller coaster ride from start to finish with plenty of dramatic moments. The Mustangs walked off with the win on a bases-loaded wild pitch, giving the team its first conference title in 15 years and just the second in program history. Central Maine will now move on to the USCAA World Series via the conference's automatic bid.
"I'm going to try and not get choked up here, but CM is everything to me," said an emotional head coach Ryan Palmer in his post-game interview. "These guys all had a never say die attitude from every player on this team top to bottom. We put guys in situations that... we had to bring Lee to the mound, we lost the DH, we had to have a guy step up. I just could not be more proud. It's been a goal for guys like Brandon and Jeff and Garren who have been here for three years to get to Dubois (Pennsylvania)... and the fact that we're going is awesome."
The #2 seeded Mustangs came into the day knowing they just needed one victory to take the conference crown while the #1 seeded Seawolves would need two wins to capture the double-elimination tournament. Under the rules format, Central Maine began the day as the home team.
The game started as a pitcher's duel early on between starter Kyle Delano for CMCC and Garrett McLeod for SMCC. Delano struck out six batters through the first two innings while McLeod mowed through the lineup with a pair of one-two-three innings. Southern Maine did threaten in both innings, getting men on first and second each time before the strikeouts stranded runners in scoring position.
The Seawolves pressure paid off in the top of the third. YSCC Player of the Year Quinn Dillon led off with a single between third and short and found himself on third after Zach Oliver whacked his second double of the day to left field. Shortstop Tyler Herkalo drove in both runners with a line drive up the middle for a 2-0 lead.
The Mustangs then sparked into life in the bottom half of the inning, loading the bases with one out after a Robertson single, Brandon Gour double, and a walk issued to Hayden Durrell. However, the inning fizzled after Garren Post struck out and Brady Vincent grounded out to first.
It was 4-0 after the second. All-Conference selection Dante Tocci worked a walk, followed by a line drive to center field by lead-off hitter Aaron Whitman. Oliver was then plunked on the back to load the bases with two outs. Herkalo again rose to the occasion with the freshman from Parkton, MD plating another two runs, this time with a single into right field. Outfielder Ryan Stone fielded the ball on one hop in the grass, forcing Whitman to freeze and stumble as he rounded third. Stone tried to end the inning right then and there but airmailed his throw over the head of Durrell at third, allowing Whitman to race home.
A feisty top of the fifth saw first baseman Post's day come to an early end after the Westbrook, ME native came together with SMCC's Alex Bean while trying to haul in a pop fly. He was then hit by his own catcher Zac Gorman, who came racing in to catch the ball after expecting the All-Conference Honorable Mention to be knocked over by the initial contact. Post would need a visit to the E.R. after the game with Brendan Mahaney replacing him in the infield.
A sudden downpour of rain brought the game to a halt with one out in the bottom half of the inning. When play resumed around 15 minutes later, with the Mustangs' offense finally breaking through. Stone reached on an infield single, just beating out a potential tag after a slow rolling grounder was fielded by McLeod but tripping over Dillon at first base in the process. Robertson sent the speedy sophomore racing around to score with an RBI double into left-center field and took third himself on the throw home. McLeod walked Gour and was then called for a balk allowing Robertson to trot across the plate, cutting the deficit in half to 4-2.
Both starters continued to pitch deep into the game, crossing the triple-digit threshold, but getting good defense behind them. Gour in particular made some highlight reel defensive plays at second base, diving to snag a line drive in midair and flipping a ground ball out of his glove to get an out at first. The sixth saw Cody Cleaveland and Jake Calver haul in long fly-ball outs in the spacious outfield that measures 405 feet to center, and Gorman threw out Adam Rowland trying to steal second base in the seventh. McLeod pitched back-to-back one-two-three innings, striking out two batters in the seventh.
Delano ended the eighth by fanning Whitman to set a new career high in strikeouts with his ninth of the day. The sophomore out of Oak Hill High School also ends the season as the conference's leader in strikeouts with 56 total.
With time running out, Central Maine broke through in the bottom of the eighth with the big inning they were looking for. McLeod's day ended after walking Gour to lead things off. Tocci came to the mound from second base looking to pick up his fourth save of the year. Durrell drew a walk as well to put two on with nobody out for Mahaney. The freshman from Old Town, ME lined a shot up the middle that came off the pitcher's plant leg and rolled out into right field, bringing Gour around to score. Logan Carpenter stepped up next as a pinch-hitting DH, continuing his knack for big hits in storybook moments, skipping a ground ball up the middle that plated Durrell to tie the game at 4-4. The Mustangs weren't done yet. With two outs, Gorman lined a single into center field, driving in Mahaney for the go-ahead run.
CMCC was suddenly three outs away from completing a dramatic come-from-behind victory. However, SMCC would spoil the party for the time being. Dillon led off with a single for his 45th hit of the year, second-most among YSCC players. Oliver flew out to right and Herkalo walked to put runners on first and second. Durrell took the force out at third on a grounder by Rowland, leaving Delano needing just one more out for a complete-game victory.
It wasn't to be. Bean hit a hard ground ball just between third and short, sending Herkalo racing home with the tying run to make it 5-5. Delano's day ended after his 141st pitch, making way for Robertson to come on in relief from the shortstop position. Tocci retired the side in order in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extra innings.
Both teams had a runner reach safely in the tenth but couldn't get them past first base. The Seawolves drew first blood in extra innings, scoring in the top of the 11th for a 6-5 lead. Herkalo led off with a single, his third hit of the day, and reached third after a sacrifice-bunt from Rowland and a groundout by Bean. Brady Wintle brought him in when his hard-hit ground ball to Gour at second was muffed, scoring the go-ahead run on the error.
Now it was Central Maine's turn to have their backs against the wall. Gorman stepped up to hit a leadoff double when his high fly ball drifted away from Whitman before dropping into right field. Owen Scott came in as a courtesy runner and Robertson singled to put the tying run in scoring position and the winning run on first.
He very nearly won the game as well. Gour smashed a line drive into left field that rolled behind Wintle to the warning track. Scott scored easily to tie the game and coach Palmer waved Robertson around for the win. The Port Joli, Nova Scotia native dove headfirst for the plate, but the relay through from cutoff man Herkalo was right on the money for catcher Bean to apply the tag a split second ahead of Robertson's hand reaching home. It was a dramatic moment that saw the Mustangs charge up the steps of the dugout prepared to celebrate only to have to turn back after the umpire signaled the out.
That also marked the end of Tocci's day in relief. YSCC Coach of the Year Ben Gravel turned to Max Noto, the conference's Pitcher of the Year, to next take the mound. The sophomore from Wentzville, MO was pitching on just one day's rest after starting against the Mustangs in the semifinal on Thursday but got Durrell to fly out to center to end the inning.
Both teams saw their lineups and defense look different after the host of changes necessary to accommodate bringing relief pitchers in from the infield. Noto stepped to the plate as a batter in the 12th, becoming Robertson's second strikeout victim. Teddy McFarland was a replacement for CMCC, with the winning pitcher from Thursday's game reaching first on a throwing error by third baseman Alex Bartlett. Cleaveland and Gorman both walked to load the bases with two outs, but Stone popped out to Dillon to end the threat.
Inning 13 proved to be CMCC's lucky number. Robertson retired the side in order to send the Mustangs to the plate with another chance to win the game. Noto then threw three balls to his opposing relief man, before it became apparent his arm was not ready for the workload so soon after a long outing. Leudys Castillo was summoned as the fourth pitcher of the day, with Robertson drawing his walk on the second pitch faced.
A pitch bounced up and away from Bean behind the plate, allowing Robertson to motor into scoring position, and Gour tried to move him to third with a bunt down the first-base line. Dillon made the decision to throw to third, and it appeared to be the wrong choice when the umpire waved both arms out calling Robertson safe on the slide. However, a split second later the call was changed to an out, erasing the lead runner off the basepaths and sending coach Palmer over for another conversation.
But the Mustangs refused to let the call derail their momentum. Durrell hit a line drive to right field to put runners on the corners, and Mahaney was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out. McFarland came up to bat with the chance to be the hero once again against the Seawolves. His bat wasn't needed though. Castillo's third pitch hit the heel of Bean's glove and deflected away towards the backstop. Gour was off like a shot and slid headfirst across home plate to win the game 7-6 and spark the celebration.
The team mobbed each other down the first-base line before turning back to celebrate with the coaches. The walk-off victory being the cherry on top of a dramatic season that finally saw the Mustangs claim another elusive YSCC Tournament championship.
"Once we got out of the ninth, into the tenth inning, we knew it was going to be a dogfight," said a hoarse Kyle Delano after the game. "Nobody was going to go down quiet. We just had to be a family. Be one, win every pitch, win every at-bat, and that's exactly what we did in the long run.
After the game, the tournament awards were presented with SMCC's Zach Oliver receiving Most Outstanding Offensive Player honors and CMCC's Cody Cleaveland being named Most Outstanding Defensive Player. Lee Robertson was selected as Tournament MVP after a fantastic postseason saw the sophomore collect six hits, score three times, and drive in two runs, while also making solid plays at shortstop and pick up the championship win on the mound in relief.
In his postgame interview, he reflected back on the team's solid stretch run to win the title that started after a players' only meeting following a doubleheader defeat at home to UMaine-Augusta in mid-April.
"Throughout the season we found ourselves kind of... we'd get a lead and then kind of slack off," said Robertson. "But like you saw there, we'd have team meetings in between innings, and we realized we all wanted to win the conference so bad. If that's something we wanted to do, we had to stay locked in, and we did it."
Coach Palmer, a former pitcher at Central Maine for three seasons himself, summed things up. "I've been blessed with great assistant coaches in my five years here at CMCC, and an administration that is second to none. It takes a village."
The Mustangs will now wait to see who they will face at the USCAA World Series in DuBois, PA with the field being announced in the selection show on Monday, May 5th.
