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The Mt. Ararat baseball team doesn’t have a bona fide ace. There aren’t droves of professional scouts driving to Topsham to witness a 95-mile per hour fastball, and the pitching staff isn’t rattling off perfect game after perfect game with some no-hitters sprinkled in between.

Yet the Eagles are 13-3, perched atop Class A North as the No. 1 seed and looking for their first regional title since budding major league pitcher Mark Rogers graced the mound in 2004.

Mt. Ararat’s four-player starting rotation of seniors Kaleb Hussey, Stan Spooner, Andrew Clemons and junior Eligh Imrie is a big reason why this team has its best shot in years.

“We don’t have anyone that throws 90 mph; we have guys that throw strikes,” Mt. Ararat coach Brett Chase said. “I’ve always said we don’t really have a No. 1, we just have guys that we trust to throw out against anybody.”

Hussey (5-0, 0.833 ERA, 29 strikeouts in 42 innings) leads the charge for Mt. Ararat, the fifth-ranked team in the latest Varsity Maine poll, with his command and mix of off-speed pitches to keep opposing batters off balanced.

Next are Spooner (3-2, 1.52 ERA, 27 strikeouts in 32 1/3 innings) and Imrie (2-0, 1.26 ERA, 13 strikeouts in 16.2 innings), who despite suffering a bulged disc and dislocated shoulder, respectively, in the preseason, feel as if they’ve returned close to pre-injury form and are continuing to trend upward.

With Spooner making his season debut on May 2 and Imrie returning to the rubber on May 16, Clemons (2-1, save, 1.65 ERA, 15 strikeouts in 17 innings) has since shifted his focus back toward playing first base. But if called upon in relief, he is ready to shut the door.

There are a few other players Chase would feel comfortable throwing on the mound, like junior Colby MacFawn (six strikeouts and zero earned runs in 7 1/3 innings), but with the quartet of right-handers pitching at consistently effective levels (everyone has a WHIP below 1.5 and a BAA less than .250), there’s almost never a need to go deep into the bullpen. Half of Mt. Ararat’s games have been complete-game showings (Hussey and Spooner each have three), and there hasn’t been a game that required a third pitcher to touch the rubber.

“We all throw strikes,” Imrie said. “We all challenge the batter, and we all have good stuff. And if somebody’s stuff is not on that day, we have another guy that will be right there.”

And if that next pitcher’s arm isn’t doing the job, the Mt. Ararat defense will back them up.

Junior catcher Ethan Card has caught every pitcher for multiple years and has developed enough rapport to call everyone’s pitches. The Eagles lost only one starter from the 2024 team, and their fielding abilities and cohesion have grown over the course of the offseason and spring. Mt. Ararat has allowed 34 runs all year, the fewest in Class A North, and has committed only 18 errors.

“To have the ability to have pitching and defense, I feel is kind of rare in high school ball,” Clemons said. “So I feel like, to be able to just throw the ball over the plate and let the kids hit the ball and know the defense is going to make plays, it’s kind of cool.”

“It’s really helpful just knowing that I can trust all the guys behind me,” Hussey added. “I know they’re going to come up and they’re going to step up on their opportunities when their name is called. So it’s really helpful just for me to take a breath and know that if something does happen, I can’t just get in my head about it. I just got to keep playing my game. I know they’ve got my back.”

Hussey and Spooner, set to be teammates and roommates on the University of Maine at Farmington baseball team next year, both admitted it has taken years to let go and develop trust in their fielders, but it’s easier to do with longtime teammates. This season, they believe Mt. Ararat’s collective work can lead toward the ultimate goal — the program’s first Class A championship.

This is the highest seeding the Eagles have had under Chase. The last time Mt. Ararat reached a regional final came in 2017, the year before Chase joined the program.

The first test will be Thursday afternoon’s quarterfinal matchup against No. 8 Brewer (7-9). On May 29, Imrie pitched six innings and Clemons earned the save in the Eagles’ 4-1 road win over the Witches.

Still, nothing is certain. Three of the last four top-seeded teams in A North have been eliminated in the first round. Spooner says at this point of the year, there isn’t any pressure in being the top seed and it’ll mostly be about maintaining focus in practice, starting each game with energy and learning from previous matchups in the regular season.

“We’re gonna make sure we come out as hard as we can, put the pressure on early,” Spooner said. “Get ahead and stay ahead, instead of falling back and get in closer games. I think (the seven games decided by one run has) taught us we just need to get out early and keep pushing. … It’s a lot easier to pitch if you have a lead by a couple runs. You feel more confident. You can trust yourself to throw a changeup with a runner on and not worry about throwing it past anyone. So it’s pretty helpful to get the guys up, say, ‘Hey, I need some run support.’ Everyone gets up, we get runs, everyone gets happy about it, and we just keep pitching. We’re able to do our thing.”