Craig Rogers was headed to the mound before he even saw where Corbin Hyde’s pitch landed.

Hyde’s curveball went for a ball, evening the count on Bangor’s leadoff hitter at 2-2 in the fourth inning of Wednesday’s Eastern Class A championship.

Rogers, Lewiston’s pitching coach, wasn’t concerned with the count, though.

He had noticed Hyde’s stride when he threw to the plate was too long. Rogers and the Blue Devils’ junior southpaw have been working on shortening his stride to help him with command of his breaking ball, and the mound conference served as a reminder.

“People have talked to me about that before, but they told me to make slow adjustments,” Hyde said. “He told me to go right for it, which was nice because it helped me out a lot.”

Lewiston will be playing in the Class A state championship game for the first time since 1950 (vs. Cheverus, 2 p.m. Saturday at Augusta’s Morton Field) because of its pitching staff. The offense is as potent as it has been the last couple of years, when the Blue Devils were contenders in Eastern A. But the mound corps has reached its full potential under Rogers’ first year of tutelage.

After a two-year hiatus from coaching so he could watch his son, Mark, pitch in the Milwaukee Brewers’ organization, Rogers returned this spring upon the invitation of Lewiston head coach Todd Cifelli.

Lewiston’s talented, veteran pitching staff has reaped the benefits. Led by Hyde, Jeff Keene and Joe Sullivan, with contributions from part-time pitchers Tucker Beaudoin and Luke Cote, the Blue Devils posted a microscopic 1.16 ERA during the regular season. They struck out batters at a rate of about one per inning while issuing one walk less than every two frames en route to a 15-1 record and the KVAC title.

In the postseason, Hyde, Keene and Sullivan have teamed up to allow only five runs, just one of those earned, in 21 innings.

Cifelli said having Rogers join his coaching staff of Chris Cifelli and Dave Sawyer was a no-brainer.

“Craig’s a veteran coach with a championship pedigree,” Cifelli said. “We had dogfights (when he coached Mt. Ararat). As a manager, he was always one of the toughest guys to manage against.”

Baseball mind

Rogers, with his hard-throwing son often pitching in front of numerous scouts and hundreds, sometimes thousands, of spectators, led Mt. Ararat to back-to-back Eastern A titles in 2003 and 2004. 

Last summer, while Mark Rogers was working his way back from shoulder surgery on his way to making his big league debut with the Brewers in September, Rogers received an offer from Cifelli to come to Lewiston.

“I kind of hemmed and hawed about it,” Rogers said. “Then I went to a couple of practices and I saw what these kids brought to the table. Early in the season, I thought, ‘This could be kind of fun,’ and it certainly has been.”

Sullivan, a senior right-hander, said the pitchers were excited about the addition.

“It’s great to get that kind of a baseball mind, especially seeing as he’s got all of the insight from his son and the Milwaukee organization and their philosophy,” said Sullivan, who went 3-0 during the regular season and has a win and a save in the tournament.

Granted autonomy of the pitching staff by Cifelli (Rogers works with catcher Mekae Hyde calling pitches), Rogers inherited a trio of pitchers as experienced at the varsity level as any Lewiston has ever had going into a season. Sullivan, fellow senior Keene and Hyde have been pitching for the varsity since they were freshmen.

Rogers relishes working with a seasoned staff that had its share of success before he arrived.

“With that confidence comes an attitude that they want to get better,” Rogers said. “They’re looking to get to the next level, and that’s part of them being coachable. I tip my hat to coach Cifelli. I said three or four years ago when I saw him I think he’s the best coach in Maine and one of the best coaches in the state.”

Rogers pointed to what happened after he had the mound conference with Hyde as an example of just how coachable.

“I think he threw three straight curves on the next batter for strikes,” Rogers said. “That’s what I mean. You can go out and tell these kids what they’re doing and they get it because we’ve been working hard on this stuff.”

Point man

“The little mechanical things can slip by in the heat of the moment, but that’s my job, to pick that stuff out,” Rogers said.

Hyde credits Rogers with helping him gain more velocity on his fastball and giving his curve a sharper break. Keene, another southpaw, said he’s helped him with velocity and locate his cutter and slider better. Sullivan said he’s helped him with his release point and learning to set hitters up.

Because the staff is so experienced, Rogers said he can get directly to the point with them. The staff appreciates his approach.

“He doesn’t mince words,” Sullivan said. “He gets that we’ve been around and he doesn’t baby us.”

“It’s nice when he cuts to the chase, too, because you know exactly what he wants,” said Hyde, who is 6-0, with a win over Hampden Academy in the quarterfinals.

Rogers may be direct but he also keeps the mood light, mixing in a little humor with his lessons, Keene said.

“He’s a funny guy, and he keeps us on our toes a lot,” said Keene, who went 5-1 during the regular season and shut out Brunswick in the regional semifinal. “He’s basically one of the most laid-back guys that we’ve had as a coach. No one else can compare to his knowledge.”

Rogers doesn’t usually bring up his son, who is currently on the disabled list battling carpal tunnel syndrome, but he does apply what he’s learned from the coaching Mark has received in the professional ranks to the Lewiston hurlers.

The pitchers aren’t the only ones learning.

“One thing that’s impressed me the most, and I’ve learned a ton from Craig, is just the sage advice of being around the game, not just for a number of years (in high school coaching) but at an elite level with his son,” Cifelli said.

Rogers, a lobsterman by trade from Orr’s Island, sings the praises of Cifelli, Lewiston athletic director Jason Fuller and the Blue Devil pitchers.

“I’ve never really had a group of pitchers that worked so hard,” Rogers said. “They’ve been receptive to learning new pitches, new grips on balls. Three of the pitchers have changed grips on two of their pitches and they just keep getting better.”

“They’re coachable, they’re eager to learn and they have an attitude you can go a long way with.”