They weren’t prohibitive favorites, but with nine seniors on the roster, Oak Hill was thought to be a very tough team to beat when the 2006 baseball season started.
Unfortunately, just a few games into the season, the Raiders looked like a team that was pretty easy to beat, mainly because they were beating themselves. They made five errors in a season-opening loss to Maranacook, then nine more a week later in a loss to Waterville. After a 2-3 start, some were writing off Oak Hill as a serious contender in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference. But their coach, Chad Drouin, was taking the long view.
“We talked to these guys from day one that we’re not preparing them for the playoffs. We’re not preparing them to win a KVAC championship. We’re preparing them to win a state championship,” Drouin said. “We went through some tough times at the beginning of the year, but the fact is that everything that’s just kind of panned out is all coming together.”
It has paid off with 11 straight wins, including four in a row in the playoffs and three in a row over higher seeds – Poland, Mountain Valley and top-seeded Greely in Thursday’s Western Maine final. Today, the Raiders try to make it an even dozen, and win their first Class B state title since 2003, when they meet Eastern Maine champion Bucksport (18-1) at 11 a.m. at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor.
The Raiders may be hot going into today’s game, but the Golden Bucks are scorching, winners of 18 straight. They are led by Penobscot Valley Conference Player of the Year Joe Robicheau (8-1), who beat Medomak Valley, 10-3, in the Eastern B semifinals Monday despite issuing nine walks.
Robicheau won’t get away with such wildness against Oak Hill, which runs the bases aggressively and will put pressure on defenses continuously, even if the results aren’t there early. The Raiders had three runners thrown out at the plate in Thursday’s 6-5 win over Greely, but they kept taking the extra base when the opportunity presented itself.
Some of Raiders’ fielding woes returned in that game (four errors), but players such as junior shortstop Chris Ellis and senior third baseman Brian Bisson also made some difficult plays in key situations. Hard-throwing junior lefty Josh Jillson, who tossed a six-hitter in their 3-2 semifinal triumph over Mountain Valley, hopes to be the beneficiary of that defense today. If Jillson falters or tires, the Raiders have a hard-throwing righty to fall back on in Bisson, who picked up his sixth save of the year in the Mountain Valley game and his first win of the season against Greely.
“Brian Bisson has really stepped up for us in this playoffs,” Drouin said. “I can’t say enough about what he’s done for us so far. He’s really kind of quietly carried this team.”
Drouin’s starting lineup boasts seven or eight seniors on a regular basis, including center fielder Mike Eaton, catcher Wally Rines and first baseman Eric Daniels. Underclassmen such as Jillson and Ellis have played critical roles, and even the freshmen and sophomores who lead the cheers in the dugout are making sure the Raiders are coming together at the right time.
“These guys have jelled together. The chemistry on this team is as good as I’ve ever seen it,” Drouin said. “Bringing up some of the younger guys from the JV team just to be around and to keep things loose in the dugout is paying off.”
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