St. Dominic Academy pitcher and shortstop Timothee Ouellette hits balls before Monday’s baseball practice. Ouellette, a junior, has been clutch at the plate for the Saints, who face Searsport in the Class D South final Wednesday at St. Joseph’s College. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal
AUBURN — St. Dominic Academy’s Timothee Ouellette has developed a couple of nicknames this season for his clutch hitting.
“My teammates, they all cheer me on every time I am up to bat,” Ouellette said. “They like to call me The Big Kahuna at the start of this year. I have started hearing that more often.”
Thomas Casserly, Ouellette’s teammate on the St. Dom’s baseball team, is the one who began referring to Ouellette as The Big Kahuna.
“Tommy randomly came up with it because he thinks of a big Hawaiian dude when you think of Timmy,” another teammate, Ashton Hammond, said. “(Tommy) thought of a big Hawaiian name, and The Big Kahuna came up.”
Coach Bob Blackman has another nickname for the No. 2 hitter in the Saints lineup, one that better fits Ouellette’s personality.
“He’s an extremely competitive guy,” Blackman said. “He’s that quiet assassin. You know he’s thinking it, but he doesn’t brassily show it, and I like that. If you are going to be brass and you don’t come through, you have egg on your face. Timmy keeps it to himself and leads by example.”
Ouellette agrees about not showing overconfidence at the plate.
St. Dominic Academy pitcher and clutch hitter Timothee Ouellette poses for a photo before Monday’s practice at the Saints’ home field in Auburn. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal
“I don’t like bragging about getting these big hits or anything,” Ouellette said. “I just need to think about staying consistent and just doing your job.”
Hammond said The Quiet Assassin suits Ouellette’s personality more.
“He’s very quiet, calm and collected,” Hammond said. “He’s usually very slow and he thinks things out. I think it helps him to calm everything down and the game down.”
Ouellette, a junior who bats left-handed and throws right-handed, plays shortstop and pitches. At the plate, he has a .292 batting average, two home runs, five doubles, a triple and 18 RBIs this season.
Blackman said that the team knows it can rely on Ouellette to be productive.
“Timmy has been steady as we can ask (for),” Blackman said. “Every year, his development has grown. This year he has added a little bit of power to his arsenal. He has led us in RBIs this year, home runs. Batting average is down a tick, but not bad, though.”
Ouellette grabs his teammates attention when he’s in the batter’s box because he can change the game in an instant.
“There’s a lot of anticipation to see what’s going to happen,” Hammond said. “I know on that home run, the bench erupted.”
Hammond is referring to the most recent clutch hit by Ouellette, a two-run homer in the top of the ninth in the Saints’ 5-3 victory over Richmond in the Class D South semifinals on Friday.
“When the game is on the line, that’s when he’s at his best,” Blackman said. “That’s what you expect out of your leader.”
Ouellette will be the third-seeded Saints’ (12-5) starting pitcher when they face No. 1 Searsport (14-3) in the regional final on Wednesday at St. Joseph’s College in Standish. The baseball and softball regional finals have been moved from Tuesday to Wednesday due to the storm in Tuesday’s weather forecast.
Ouellette said when a game is in the balance he ignores the noise, literally.
“I just block everything out,” Ouellette said. “I can’t really hear much when I am up to bat, other than in between pitches and looking at Blackman.”
St. Dominic Academy pitcher and shortstop Timothee Ouellette hits balls before Monday’s baseball practice in Auburn. Ouellette, a junior, has been clutch at the plate for the Saints, who face Searsport in the Class D South final Wednesday at St. Joseph’s College. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal
Ouellette’s clutch hitting from last year, when he drove in the only run in a 1-0 victory over Searsport in the regional final, carried over to the start of this season.
“I came up in the first game of the season, and I hit the walk-off against (Old Orchard Beach),” Ouellette said. “When I get in that moment, I get hyper focus, looking for that pitch and teeing it off.”
The walk-off against the Seagulls was a line drive to left-center that drove in two runs. He worked on going the opposite way during the offseason.
Ouellette also added he seizes the momentum when it’s presented to him.
Hammond said the experience of last year’s playoff run, which concluded with St. Dom’s winning the Class D state championship, aided Ouellette’s development at the plate and helped him become the Saints’ top clutch hitter.
“Who else would you want in that situation?” Hammond said. “He’s a very consistent hitter and (has) a lot of pop. Why not him?”
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