AUBURN – Today won’t be the first time Jim Mayo and Jon Rutt have played alongside each other for a state championship.

“He was 12, I was 11,” said Rutt, a junior at St. Dom’s. “We won the state Little League championship with Augusta and played (in a regional championship) in Bristol, Conn., I played second, he played first.”

Mayo, a senior, and Rutt will probably be playing side by side in the outfield today at noon when the Saints face George Stevens Academy for the state Class C championship at Gorham High School.

Rutt, the Saints’ leading hitter, hits in the No. 5 spot. Mayo hits anywhere between sixth and eighth. The duo sparks the bottom half of the order, which sometimes out-produces the top of the order led by all-conference players Ian Pullen and Ryan Turgeon.

“Usually, when you get down to a team’s six-seven-eight-nine hitters, you thinks it’s a cakewalk,” Mayo said. “But the way our order is, there really isn’t much of a layoff.”

The Saints will be tested today against GSA, facing Eagles’ ace Collin Henry, a lefty who will be the first southpaw they have faced all season.

“I don’t think it really matters who’s throwing. It matters whether we think we can do it or not,” Rutt said.

There’s not much Rutt can’t do on a baseball field. He hit a team-high .526 this season, and with Pullen, Turgeon, Josh Dwinal and Jack Lavoie hitting ahead of him, he usually has the chance to knock in a run or two any time he steps into the batters box.

Rutt is also a top-notch glove man who helps anchor an outstanding St. Dom’s defense from left or center field.

“Jon is just an outstanding athlete,” Turgeon said. “He’s got great hand-eye coordination. Anything can happen when he comes to the plate.”

“He’ll close on a ball as good as anybody I’ve seen in the outfield,” he added.

Mayo doesn’t have Rutt’s eye-popping batting average, but he has come through with some big hits this season, including two hits in Tuesday’s 6-2 win over Jay in the Western C championship.

Mayo also offers the Saints some versatility, capable of filling in at first base, third base, or the outfield when the regulars at one of those positions pitches.

“He’s one of the blue-collar workers on our team,” Turgeon said of Mayo. “He can play multiple positions and play them as if he’s a starter at all of those positions.”

“Ever since I was young, I realized the more positions that you play, the more playing time you’re going to get,” Mayo said.