LEWISTON — One of two post-graduates on the Gayton Post 31 baseball roster, Alex Wong is a symbolic figure on a team that has come to represent resurgence, revenge and redemption.

Wong has experienced every conceivable high and low of the American Legion tournament, from an unfulfilling loss in the final to Portland’s Nova Seafood in 2008 to a season-killing trip over a trap door in the Zone 3 tourney last season.

“We just had to keep grinding,” Wong said. “That’s a word that Coach (Todd) Cifelli has been using all year. Grind, that’s the word I would use is grind.”

That terminology applies to Gayton’s last three summers on the diamond. It adequately describes a punch-counterpunch push through a stressful state tournament.

And yes, it probably will be used more than once to keep everyone on task when Gayton travels to the Northeast Regional. Gayton will cut the ribbon in Game 1 at 9:30 a.m. Thursday against Gibbsboro, N.J.

Games will be played at the Palmer Field complex in Middletown, Conn.

“The Legion tournament is like a Mad Max, Thunderdome journey to get through,” said Cifelli, unearthing one of the out-of-left-field analogies that typically keep his team loose. “I think it shows mental toughness.”

Thanks in part to its recent history, Gayton shows no lack in that department.

Wong and fellow post-graduate Greg LaBonte of St. Dom’s were around in 2008, when Gayton waded through the consolation bracket only to lose in the final of what Cifelli calls the “Nova Invitational.”

Gayton’s 2009 encore packed the promise of a 17-1 regular-season record and a top seed in Zone 3. But with the zone tournament operating under a single-elimination format, Gayton was upset by No. 4 Bessey Motors in the semifinals.

Under a new rule, the regular-season champion wasn’t granted an automatic berth at states for the first time.

“I’m just so happy for our team. Coming up a little short in ’08 and last year getting nipped by we call it the ‘Gayton rule.’ It was nice to come back and show these guys that we’re for real,” Wong said. “A lot of teams had doubt in us.”

This year was no walk on the beach, either. As runner-up in the Zone 3 tournament, it was Gayton’s turn to play in one of the two “play-in” games necessitated by the addition of a fifth statewide zone in 2009.

Gayton rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to defeat Libby-Mitchell Post of Scarborough, 10-9, and secure a place in the state draw at Wainwright Sports Complex in South Portland.

It was the first of three walk-off wins in the tournament, capped by Sunday’s 17-16 survival of Augusta.

Undefeated until the final day, Gayton trailed 7-0 and 12-4 in the championship game following a 13-6 defeat in the first half of a doubleheader.

Wong, the starting right fielder as a freshman at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, was named tournament MVP after pitching the final five innings of the clincher. It was his second win of the tournament.

He also batted .500 while playing center field.

“I told him when he came to third base in the eighth inning (of the championship game) that I’m not getting a call from his college coach,” Cifelli said. “Where he should have been was 45 to 60 (pitches). He ended up at 92.”

Gayton is 62-12 (.838) over the last three years. Despite that history, it’s a relatively young group.

Wong, LaBonte, recent graduate Trey Ouellette and soon-to-be high school seniors Mekae Hyde, Jeff Keene, Scott Ouellette and Alex Parker anchor the Gayton lineup. Juniors Corbin Hyde and Luke Cote have made major contributions, Cote as a leadoff hitter.

Mat Gordon, Corbin Hyde, Joe Sullivan, Keene and Wong lead a deep pitching staff.

In the state playoffs, Gayton knocked off eight-time state champion Nova, a Bessey squad top-heavy with players from Oxford Hills’ state championship high school team and a relentless Augusta lineup dominated by 18-year-olds.

“Beating all these teams that shut us down in the past, it was a great week for us,” Wong said.

The double-elimination tournament continues through Monday. Other participants include two teams from Connecticut (Middletown, Branford) and representatives from Goffstown, N.H., Essex Junction, Vt., Warwick, R.I., and East Longmeadow, Mass.

Gayton is partnered in the bracket with Branford and Essex Junction. Maine’s representative will play a winner’s bracket game at 4:30 p.m. or an elimination clash at 9:30 a.m. Friday, depending upon the outcome.

The final round will be at 1 and 7 p.m. (if necessary) on Monday, August 9.

In an era that sees other posts struggling to keep older players engaged in the Legion program, the dedication of players such as Wong is a huge factor in Gayton’s success.

But with another long weekend on his itinerary, Wong may have to answer to a different authority than Cifelli or his Wentworth coaches.

“My boss might not be too happy,” he said.

Better tell him not to hold his breath. Gayton is now playing for a spot in the World Series in Spokane, Wash., beginning August 13. Nova won the national title in 2004.

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