By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer

POLAND – They’re exceptional students, good citizens and above-average baseball players, but five Poland Regional High School baseball players admittedly grimaced at the thought that they might not be around long enough to reap the benefits of a new coaching regime.

“We thought we were going to start winning in soccer. Then we started a football program, and it split us up. Then we thought we’d go far in basketball, and nothing happened,” said Max Levine. “Now we heard we were getting another new baseball coach, and it was, Here we go again.'”

Instead, incoming skipper Dave Jordan instilled new confidence in a team that needed it in order to compete with perennial state championship contenders Gorham, Greely and Cape Elizabeth in the Class B division of the Western Maine Conference.

And more quickly than you say “pitching, defense and timely hitting,” Poland’s seniors and their precocious teammates have graduated from competing to conquering. The Knights begin Western Class B tournament play Thursday at 15-1, far and away the highest single-season winning percentage of any Poland athletic program in the school’s brief history.

No. 2 Poland will host one of two WMC rivals, Wells or Falmouth, in a quarterfinal game Thursday afternoon.

“None of us have ever been on a team with anything close to that winning percentage,” said senior outfielder Curtis Haslip, who is a tri-captain along with classmates Stevie Ray and Jeremy Callahan. “I don’t want to say it’s a shock, but it’s a great accomplishment for our whole team.”

There was guarded optimism after a school-record nine wins and a trip to the preliminary round last spring. This year’s leaps and bounds are a credit to efficiency and small-ball.

“We’ve worked hard at the squeeze bunts, the stolen bases, the little stuff that helps you win the close games,” Jordan said.

Four pitchers have at least three wins and an ERA below 1.80. Poland has committed only 16 errors all season, giving them an edge in the 3-2 and 4-3 games that are so common in the WMC.

“We’ve only won one game by the 10-run rule all season,” Ray recalled.

Senior shortstop and pitching ace Alex Smith led six Poland players who were named WMC first or second-team all-stars. That number is even more staggering when you consider how much on-the-job training some of them have experienced.

Levine never played first base in high school until this season. Replacing him in the outfield was Haslip, a former catcher who elected to rest his back for his upcoming enlistment in the United States Marine Corps.

That moved Callahan behind the plate.

“And he’s done a wonderful job there,” Jordan said. “Jeremy is sort of the heartbeat of our team. Everyone follows his lead.”

Poland’s seniors cite two turning points in their dream season.

After winning their first three league games, the Knights traveled to Gorham on April 30 wondering how good they really were. The top-ranked Rams came out on top, but not before Poland experienced its own epiphany.

“We found out that we could compete with Gorham and Cape,” Haslip said. “After that, we had some games where we beat other teams by only one or two runs and we knew we were better than that.”

In another defining moment, Poland trailed Falmouth by seven runs in the sixth inning before rallying for a 9-8 win.

“We knew we had talent, so in that respect it doesn’t surprise me,” Smith said. “Our pitching, our defense and our offense are all clicking right now. Coach has come in and been a good role model, and everybody gets along great. Nobody gets down on anybody.”

Jordan assessed his roster during spring indoor practice and expected Poland to contend for double-digit wins and a playoff spot.

Of course, enforcing new rules and asking seniors to accept new roles isn’t always a safe chemistry experiment.

“I’ve heard from some coaches that having five seniors can be good or bad, but it’s definitely an advantage with these guys,” Jordan said. “I’ve tried to bring some basic discipline and get them excited about playing ball. They have a great work ethic.”

Sophomores and juniors have caught the fever, as well.

Among the Knights just getting started: shortstop and third baseman Tyler Merchant; outfielder/first baseman/pitcher Joe Douglass and hurler Will Griffiths.

“I would love to come back,” said Levine, “and watch a state championship game next year.”

Or play in it this year, maybe?