Gardiner graduate Mike Burdin made St. Joseph's College baseball history on Saturday, when he became just the second Monk to ever hit for the cycle.

Burdin pulled off the feat in the second game of a doubleheader against Rivier College. Burdin was 4 for 6 with four runs and six RBI in the game.

A junior, Burdin hit a double in the second inning before hitting his first career home run in the fourth. He tripled in the fifth, and his single came in the sixth.

The only other St. Joe's player to hit for the cycle was Bill Mucci. A member of the school's Hall of Fame, Mucci did it against the University of Maine-Farmington on April 25, 1987.

There are a lot of changes in store for American Legion Baseball this summer. It's too soon to tell what effect they will have, but it's sure to be interesting.

The Cony High School baseball teams has loads of talent and it is all very young. The Rams had just two seniors on the roster in Saturday's 7-3 loss in the Eastern A semifinal at Morton Field, starting third baseman Greg O'Neill and starting first baseman Cory Nason.

I ran into Hank Burns at the Oxford Hills-Cony baseball game Thursday at Morton Field in Augusta and had a nice conversation with the former Vikings coach. Burns, who wrote a column for the Sunday Telegram (which later became a harness racing column) has always been a character.

Forrest Dwyer was struggling early in the Western C quarterfinal game between Winthrop and Hall-Dale on Thursday, leaving Winthrop coach Marc Fortin with a tough decision.

When Dwyer walked three batters in the third inning, Fortin considered taking Dwyer out of the game in favor of Jake Steele. No. 3 pitcher Easton Morang was unavailable because he pitched in Tuesday's Mountain Valley Conference game.

The Western C prelim baseball game between Monmouth Academy and Telstar was delayed 52 minutes because of lightning strikes in the area. The game was first stopped for lightning at 6:38 p.m. with a runner on third and two outs in the top of the seventh inning. It started again at 7:30 p.m. and the inning ended after one pitch when Monmouth Devin Robbins reliever Devin Robbins finished a strikeout.

To see Waterville freshman Cam Sawyer now, you'd have no idea how reluctant he was to move into the leadoff spot in the Waterville batting order a few weeks ago.

"It took some getting used to," Sawyer said following Waterville's 6-4 win over Erskine in the Eastern B prelims on Tuesday. "I was a little hesitant."

Sawyer had another strong day in the leadoff spot for the Panthers, scoring two runs, driving in two more and reaching base all four time he came to the plate.

"Now I'm used to it," Sawyer, Waterville's second baseman, said. "I enjoy it. There's pressure, there's nerves, then you get to the plate for your first at bat and it goes away."

The Western C prelim baseball game between Monmouth and Telstar is being delay by lightning. Play was stopped at 6:38 p.m. MPA rules state that play can not begin again until 30 minutes after the last strike.
Telstar leads the game 8-3 with two outs and a runner on third in the top of the seventh. The Rebels scored four times in the first without the benefit of a hit.

Waterville and Erskine played once in the regular season, with Waterville taking a 9-2 win on April 30. The teams play again on Tuesday in a Eastern Class B prelim game at Waterville.

Waterville scored seven runs in the third inning to take control of the regular season game against the Eagles. It was the first win of the season for Waterville, which ended the regular season with six consecutive victories.

Waterville is the No 6 seed in the tournament, the highest the Panthers have been ranked since entering the 2001 Eastern A tournament as the top seed.

The week high school baseball teams have been waiting for all season has arrived. Playoffs begin this week with preliminary round games on Tuesday. Quarterfinal and semifinal games will be played Thursday and Saturday, respectively

In Wednesday's baseball game between Winslow and Waterville, the most important out each inning was the first one.

Waterville's leadoff runner reached base in three of the six innings the Panthers hit. Waterville scored in all three innings the leadoff runner reached. In the three innings the leadoff hitter recorded an out, the Panthers were shut out.

Winslow's leadoff man got on three times, and the Black Raiders scored twice.

The Panthers had the same success on Monday against Maranacook. Waterville put its leadoff hitter on in four innings. In three of those innings, the Panthers scored.

For an outfielder, little compares to running down a ball in the gap. Winthrop center fielder Tyler Cobb knows the feeling well.

Take a glance at the baseball Heal Points that came out today, and when you get to Eastern Class B, your first thought might be "Where's the KVAC?"

You have to go down to the 7th spot in the region before you find a KVAC school, Gardiner. The Tigers are the only school in the conference ranked in the top 11.

Don't sweat it, KVAC fans. Your conference hasn't fallen on hard times. It's just one of those quirks in the Heal Point system that pops up from time to time.

Many of the Penobscot Valley Conference teams that occupy the top spots in the region have played a few more games than their KVAC counterparts. Bucksport entered this week with 11 games played. Old Town has 10 games under its belt. Foxcroft Academy has already played 12 games.

More games leads to more points. The KVAC teams will catch up.

This looks like a season with no dominant teams. There are no undefeated teams in the region (Ellsworth and Gardiner each had one loss coming into the week, while four teams had dropped three games). Expect some of the KVAC teams to inch closer to the top. It's likely Gardiner won't be the only school in the conference with a home game in the first round of the tournament.

We know from experience or just observation how much wind can affect a sporting event.

A few leftovers from the week of May 4 and a look ahead.

In the fourth inning of his team's 8-6 loss at MCI on Friday, Waterville pitcher Brian Bridger made one of the most astute plays you'll see in high school baseball this season.

With a runner on first and nobody out, MCI's Chris Cook hit a high pop-up that fell in short center field, between the shortstop, second baseman and center fielder, who all converged on the ball but couldn't make a play.

The ball wasn't hit sharp enough for MCI's Matt Delaney to take off from first base immediately. He had to wait to see if the ball would be caught. When it wasn't, Delaney took off for second. Most times, he would have been safe, with both the shortstop and second baseman going after the ball and neither covering the bag.

They are facetiously celebrated as the state bird on T-shirts, their pictures are reprinted on coffee mugs and they even have ice cream named after them. We here in Maine joke about black flies, probably because there’s so little we can do about them.

The races are starting to shake out after the first couple of weeks of the high school baseball season. A few observations.

It still takes a decent poke to hit a baseball out of Hoch Field, but it's a little easier this season than in year's past. The fences down the left and right field lines have been moved in 45 feet.

Mt. Blue High School pitcher Joe Gilbert was drilled twice by line drives back up the middle in Friday's 13-3 loss to Skowhegan. The senior is fine, and pitched one more inning after the second incident.

In the second inning, Gilbert had a Matt Hisler liner go off his foot for a base hit. In the fourth, Hisler sent a hard line drive back up the middle. The ball found Gilbert just below the ribs on his right side, but the pitcher quickly found the ball and threw to first for the final out of the inning before dropping his glove and jogging off the field in pain.

Several area baseball coaches on Thursday expressed their disappointment and concern over the findings of the Mitchell Report.

Gardiner Area High School senior Kyle Stilphen, who is preparing to play in the Class B state championship game later tonight, has signed a letter of intent to play baseball at the University of Maine.