PORTLAND – Despite reports to the contrary leading up to the most anticipated high school baseball game in Maine history, fans got the matchup they were hoping for Monday.

The undefeated Deering Rams got the results they have become accustomed to – yet another state championship.

Mark Rogers did indeed start for Mt. Ararat in the Class A championship, to the delight of the estimated crowd of 7,000 that jammed Hadlock Field. The Deering lineup that awaited him was by far the best he had faced this year. Rogers’ control, and Mt. Ararat’s defense, were not at their best, however, and the result was a 6-1 win that gave the Rams their second straight Class A title and their fifth in the last six years.

Rogers (8-1), taken fifth overall in last week’s Major League Baseball draft by the Milwaukee Brewers, lasted 4 1/3 innings, gave up a season-high four hits and five runs (three earned), fanned eight, walked three and hit a batter while throwing 92 pitches.

“Obviously, my control wasn’t as good as I wanted it,” Rogers said. “I fell behind a couple of times and had to throw some pitches that I wouldn’t have thrown to batters. It didn’t work out exactly how I wanted it to, but I’m not going to win every game I start.”

“I think he did OK under the circumstances,” said Eagles’ coach Craig Rogers, Mark’s father. “If we’d made a couple of plays, we’d have been in the fourth or fifth inning nothing-nothing. They capitalized and we didn’t. That’s what it boils down to.”

Each team made three errors, but Deering starter Ryan Reid (seven innings while yielding five hits, one earned run, seven Ks, one walk), widely considered the second-best pitcher in the state, kept the Eagles from capitalizing.

“Our entire team made plays today, with a few errors, but we got through them because we did the small things right,” said Reid, who improved to 8-0.

Deering (18-0), which beat Rogers and the Eagles last year, 9-1, did the small things particularly well at the plate. They worked Rogers deep into counts and stayed disciplined against his mid-90s fastball and knee-buckling curve.

“The approach today was early in the count, be aggressive. Look for a fastball and go after it,” said Deering coach Mike D’Andrea. “If you get two strikes, put it in play. That’s all you can do with a guy with great stuff.”

“They’ve got a great lineup,” Mark Rogers said. “One through nine, they’ve got guys who can hit the ball. There’s no guy that you can go up and just pump fastballs to because they’re going to put the ball in play.”

Deering put the ball in play early and immediately put the pressure on the Eagles’ defense. Rogers worked his way out of a jam in the first, stranding Chris Burleson, who had reached on an error, at third with one out. But that inning set the tone.

Rogers got into trouble again immediately in the second when the first two Rams reached on an error and a walk. Neil Esposito then put down a bunt to the third base side of the mound which Rogers fielded cleanly, but his throw to first went into right field, scoring Josh Stowell (two runs).

Esposito victimized the pitcher again in the third. Giobbi (two hits) singled and Reid walked to lead off the inning. Rogers looked like he might get out of it by fanning Stowell and Jeff Skillin and getting two strikes on Esposito, but a passed ball followed by a hanging curve deposited in right field by Esposito made it 3-0.

“That’s the one pitch of the game I wish I had back,” Rogers said. “There were other pitches that were good pitches that they hit, but I just threw a bad pitch there.”

Baserunning mistakes also cost the Eagles (18-2), who had a runner picked off in both the second and third innings. They threatened again in the fourth, putting two on with none out and moving them to second and third with a sacrifice. Reid buckled down with a strike out and a ground out to hold them scoreless.

Deering plated three more in the fifth on RBI singles by Skillin, Esposito and Mike D’Andrea. Skillin’s infield hit chased Rogers from the game, and the right-hander received a standing ovation from the capacity crowd as he went to shortstop.

Rogers helped to finally get the Eagles on the board by leading off the sixth with a ground-rule double, then scoring on Andy Cantrell’s single. But Reid kept Mt. Ararat from mounting a more serious threat by inducing Brent Williams into a double play and then by striking out the side after a leadoff walk in the seventh.