By Randy Whitehouse,Staff Writer

Small ball hasn’t been the modus operandi for either the top-seeded St. Dom’s Saints or the third-seeded Telstar Rebels, but it may be the best blueprint for success when the two meet in the Western Class C championship today.

But with both teams’ aces expected to get the call at 3 p.m. on the campus of St. Joseph’s College, a sacrifice here or a squeeze play there might be the difference.

“I think there’s no question that it’s going to be a low-scoring game,” said St. Dom’s coach Allan Turgeon. “I feel like our team is able to do whatever it needs to make things happen on the field.”

“It might only take three runs to win,” said Telstar coach Bob Remington. “I don’t think it take a genius to say that because when these two guys have pitched, three runs has usually been enough.”

The Saints’ Brady Blackman (6-1, 78 strikeouts in 48 2/3 innings) and the Rebels’ Terry Collins (4-2, 68 strikeouts in 47 innings) could post a lot more zeros than crooked numbers on the Mahaney Diamond scoreboard.

Blackman, a hard-throwing junior, has pitched well as a starter and in relief (two saves) for the Saints.

“He’s played just incredible baseball,” said Turgeon. “For a kid his age (16), he has tremendous poise. He has great command and a mound presence that really lifts up our team when he’s out there on the hill.”

Collins, the two-time Mountain Valley Conference Player of the Year, struck out 17 in the Rebels’ quarterfinal win over Old Orchard Beach. His fastball tops out in the low 80s, not quite as hard as Blackman’s, but he backs it up with what some feel was the best curve ball in the MVC this year.

“He’s not really a strikeout pitcher,” Remington said. “Because the MPA changed to Rawlings baseballs, he hasn’t been able to get the feel of his curve as much, so he’s gone to his fastball more this year, which we’d tried to get him to do in the past.”

Collins was victimized early by some poor run support. The Rebels (12-4) had just two runs and seven hits in their first two games, both losses, but turned things around in, ironically, a 14-13 loss to Winthrop in early May. Since then, the top five hitters in the lineup, Ryan Savage, August Reiss, Collins, Josh Longway and Kevin Zinchuk, have been knocking the cover off the ball, and the Rebels have won nine of their last 10.

“We had a lot of guys that hadn’t gotten many at-bats last year. They were either on our JV team that only played seven games or were on the varsity and got limited at-bats,” Remington said. “I told the guys I know we’re going to get hits, we just need at-bats.'”

St. Dom’s (15-1) boasts a similarly potent lineup, led by Jon Rutt (.614), Mike Carpenter (.425) and Jake Albert (.394). The Saints are in good shape at the bottom of the order, too, with Brent Cary, Justin Fongemie and No, 9 hitter Peter Lewis. Lewis went 3-for-3 in their semifinal win over Jay. Getting production from that part of the lineup may make the difference Wednesday.

“I think it is critical,” Turgeon said. “Obviously, (Collins) will be focused in on the heart of our order. To get production in the lower part of your batting order is critical to the success of any team.”

This will be the Saints’ third straight Western Maine final. They lost to Jay two years ago, but beat the Tigers last year. They also knocked off Telstar in last year’s tournament, 3-2 in extra innings. The Rebels are making their first regional appearance since winning Western C in 2000.

Turgeon said he doesn’t look at the experience factor as an advantage for the Saints, but added “it certainly helps to have that kind experience, just to understand and control the adrenaline.”

Remington doesn’t think his team will be caught up in the moment, either.

“I don’t think so because of our seniors,” he said. “These seniors are not timid seniors. They’re pretty mature kids, and most of them were around last year when we lost to St. Dom’s, and that left a pretty bad taste in their mouth.”