By Randy Whitehouse,Staff Writer

AUBURN – The last days of the spring sports season are a time for high school seniors to reflect on their sporting careers.

St. Dom’s senior Jon Rutt has been reminiscing with teammate Jake Albert about their exploits since they first played together on the same T-ball team at age five.

“We’ve played in six state championships, but we’ve only won one,” said Rutt, who lives in Augusta. “We’d like another one.”

Rutt and company will go for another one today when the Saints meet George Stevens Academy in the Class C state championship. The game is a rematch of last year’s state title game, which GSA won, 12-2.

Rutt is one of the best hitters in Class C. He’s led the Saints in virtually every offensive category, batting .566, with a gaudy .925 slugging percentage, scoring 24 runs and driving in 18 (including two homers), along with 30 hits and eight stolen bases.

He’s an imposing figure batting from the left side of the plate, even in the Saints’ spacious home ballpark. In the Western A semifinals against Jay, he pulled an inside fastball to right field that cleared the fence and traveled well over 400 feet from home plate. Unfortunately, the ball hooked foul, but it served notice of Rutt’s ability to unload on a pitch that handcuffs many other hitters.

Rutt regularly puts on a similar show in batting practice.

“We were hitting against Tyler (Turgeon, St. Dom’s alum and current Bowdoin player) and he hit one foul as hard, or maybe harder, than that one,” Saints coach Allan Turgeon said.

“I just try to hit the ball where it’s pitched,” Rutt said. “If I’m in a slump, I try to hit the ball up the middle. The power just seems to come when you don’t really think about it. I just look for singles.”

Rutt’s humility belies an ability to make the players around him better, Turgeon said.

“We didn’t have him in the preseason because he was at a hockey camp, but when he came back, everybody else elevated their game,” he said. “There’s no question he’s an incredible impact player.”

His impact went beyond the batter’s box this season. Despite seeing little time on the mound last year, Rutt was the Saints’ No. 2 starter behind ace Brady Blackman from the start of the season. He never lost a game, going 4-0, including a 128-pitch playoff win on the hottest day of the year against Jay.

“I always thought I was capable of pitching well. We were just so deep last year,” he said. “This year, we have the same quality, we just don’t have the six or seven guys we had last year.”

A Travis Roy Award finalist and Sun Journal Hockey Player of the Year, Rutt feels equally comfortable with a hockey stick or a baseball bat in his hands. For the immediate future, he’s chosen the curved piece of lumber. He’ll play junior hockey this fall for the Boston Bulldogs.

“I still love playing baseball, though,” he said.