Auburn will not have an entry in American Legion Zone 3 baseball when the season begins tonight.

The team representing William J. Rogers Post 153 disbanded Monday after multiple tryouts yielded only nine players.

“Couldn’t get enough kids to play,” said Ryan Arnold, a recent graduate of Edward Little High School. “It’s very sad.”

It’s not an unprecedented problem. Auburn also withdrew from the zone prior to the 2004 season when it was unable to field a team.

Under the direction of Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School athletic director Jeff Benson, St. Dominic Regional High School coach Bob Blackman and most recently Larry Gordon, the team had enjoyed a resurgence.

“I started it again in 2005 and 2006, and we worked hard to build it back up,” Benson said. “It’s a sad state.”

Gordon was scheduled to be the team’s coach this year.

“There’s a box full of brand-new uniforms, hats and t-shirts that aren’t going to be used this summer,” Gordon said. “They can all be used another year, but I still feel bad for the Legion. They worked hard to raise about $6,000 for baseball this year.”

Auburn could also face a bump in the road when it tries to launch the team again next year.

Once players join another post’s team, that team must agree to release the player in order for him to represent Auburn again.

“We had to work for three years to get back (one of the EL kids) when I took it over,” Benson said.

Out of the nine players who gave Gordon their commitment for the season, only three were part of Edward Little’s varsity program this spring. Others would have entered the fray with only junior varsity or Babe Ruth level experience.

Since Auburn’s last losing battle with the numbers game in ’04, Legion expanded the age spectrum for eligible players from 14 to 19 years old.

“But do you really want 14-year-old kids competing against 18 and 19-year-olds? That’s a set-up for failure,” Gordon said. “It’s a shame. I really wanted to get the program going again. I don’t know how competitive we would have been with only three varsity players, but that’s OK.”

“There are so many other things to do in the summer, and it’s not helping our baseball program,” said Zone 3 commissioner Bill Brackett of Auburn. “This post has been in place for more than 50 years and there are only a couple years we haven’t been able to play. Unfortunately this is one of them.”

Post 153 won the American Legion state championship in 1990 and has made numerous appearances in the tournament.

Auburn players aren’t out of options for baseball this summer.

“Three of them are hoping to pay for Gayton, and I believe two or three others will play for Andy Valley (in Turner),” Brackett said.

“That’s good,” said Gordon, “but there still are kids who wanted to play baseball who won’t get a chance to play.”

As Post 153’s closest neighbor in what was an 11-team zone, Gayton Post 31 — located in Auburn but representing Lewiston — was given preference to the available players.

“I’m not looking for karma or anything, but I’ll all for guys having a chance to play baseball,” said Gayton coach Todd Cifelli. “And to be honest I had a little flexbility with my roster.”

Cifelli, who also is coach at Lewiston High School and an Edward Little graduate, held an open tryout for the Auburn players.

Five showed up. Cifelli elected to keep three, although only one — coincidentally, Larry Gordon’s son Mat — will be available tonight when Gayton travels to Smith-Tobey of Bath.

“You can put that one in lights, because he’ll be starting for me (Thursday) night,” Cifelli said.

Cifelli declined to name the other two potential signees. Both 2009 graduates of Edward Little, the two are awaiting clearance from the state director.

Because they did not attend every New Auburn tryout session, the two 19-year-olds could be deemed ineligible.

“I haven’t received a ruling yet from the state director (Chuck Berube), so I don’t know what the outcome will be,” Brackett said. “(Cifelli) isn’t going to play them until we find out.”

Gayton will carry a full roster of 18 players in either case.

Cifelli started a Junior Legion program with Gayton three years ago. Mechanic Falls and several programs in Zone 4 and 5 (Cumberland and York counties) have similar feeder systems.

And while Bethel, Rumford, Dixfield and Brunswick all have resurrected or added teams in recent years, Auburn continues to struggle with numbers.

“We tried everything we know how to do to entice kids to play, and it just didn’t work out,” Brackett said.

“I had nine kids promise me they would be there for every practice and every game, but you know how that goes,” Gordon said. “When you have 15 kids on a Class A varsity program and only three show up for Senior Legion, that’s just sad.”

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