Just as Major League teams were packing their bags to head north for the start of the regular season, the Telstar Rebels were getting their luggage together for a trip south and some valuable pre-season experience.

The team traveled to Orlando, Fla., earlier this month to play four games against high school baseball teams from around the country, including Alabama and Vermont. The Rebels raised enough money on their own to participate in a round robin at the Atlanta Braves’ spring training complex at Disney World.

Telstar went 1-3 on the trip, beating Burlington, Vt., 11-1. But the most memorable game may have been the contest with the team from Alabama.

Evidently, the squad is well known throughout the Deep South as the defending champion in that state and boasts several Division I college prospects on its roster, but the Rebels gave them a better game than any of the other teams they faced.

“As the game was going on, more and more people started showing up at the ballpark to watch,” said Telstar coach Bob Remington. “I guess word was spreading around that this litttle team from Maine was giving this juggernaut from Alabama a tough game.”

Telstar hung in until the Alabama team broke a 2-2 tie with two outs in the seventh inning.

“It was a good experience, even though we won just one of the four games,” Remington said. “Our pitching and defense looked really good.”

The time in the sun also helped their bats, apparently, as the Rebels opened the season Friday with a 15-3 win over Dirigo.

Carrying on proud tradition

Stepping into the shoes of his mentor, Mike Loveless, as Oxford Hills head coach this year, Shane Slicer has ensured that the Vikings haven’t missed a beat.

“For me, this being my first year, with the tradition of Oxford Hills, my biggest worry was not wanting to let down that tradition,” Slicer said. “On paper, we lost a lot, so it was like ‘How good are we going to be?'”

If the first-third of the season is any indication, very good. The Vikings are off to a 6-0 start in the KVAC.

“We’re still not where we want to be,” Slicer said. “We’ve been fortunate to get a lot of breaks and we haven’t really faced any really good pitching.”

The Vikings have just four seniors on their squad and have an almost entirely revamped pitching staff. Only ace Garrett Olson saw significant time on the mound last season.

With all that youth, some observers and opponents thought Oxford Hills would have to go through some growing pains before returning to their traditional spot near the top of the standings. Instead, with their strong start, many are seeing them as, well, the same old Vikings.

“Going 6-0, when we go into a game, teams are a little nervous about playing us no matter how good or bad we are,” he said.

“A lot of teams were overlooking us with all we’d lost. But we had a lot of experience coming back, not a lot of game-time experience, but these guys went to the state championship last year. They know what it takes. They know the class ahead of them, how hard they worked to get there.”

Rival lost, rival found

When Monmouth moved from the East-West Conference to the Mountain Valley Conference, Buckfield was left looking for a new rivalry on the diamond. They didn’t have to look for long.

Richmond has stepped into the void left by Monmouth, which makes sense.

During Monmouth’s tenure in the EWC, if the Bucks weren’t the ones challenging the Mustangs for first place, the Bobcats were, so Buckfield has always had Richmond on its radar screen. But when that power trio was trimmed to just a duo last year, Buckfield coach Chuck Williams noted even more anticipation preceded the teams’ two regular season meetings.

“The day before we’d play Richmond, the kids would be gearing up,” Williams said. “They enjoy playing them. They know it’s going to be a good game and they kind of push themselves a little bit harder, and I’m sure Richmond does the same for us. I do think those two games against them will be pretty interesting, pretty intense.”

No doubt both Richmond and Buckfield have circled their schedules for their two games this season, at Richmond on May 5 and at Buckfield on May 19.

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