SOUTH PORTLAND — Hudson Iacuessa was a starting outfielder as a freshman on South Portland’s 2023 Class A championship team. He’s been the Red Riots’ top pitcher and hitter since his sophomore season.

As a senior, the 6-foot-4 left-hander has been better than ever for the top-ranked high school baseball team in Maine.

Iacuessa, 18, threw back-to-back five-inning no-hitters. In the first, against Westbrook on May 4, he recorded all 15 outs via strikeout.

“I just felt really good. I was able to throw the fastball well, throw the slider off that,” Iacuessa said.

But he did walk two batters.

So the next time out, against Windham on May 9, Iacuessa was perfect. Fifteen up, 15 down, with 10 strikeouts.

“That’s what made me mad about the first one, a little bit. Walked two guys. So had to come back and limit walks,” Iacuessa said, adding that he liked his no-nos “equally. I like them both.”

After going 6-1 with a 0.60 ERA as a junior, Iacuessa is 3-0 this season with 36 strikeouts in 17 innings, against three walks and four hits.

Through the first seven games of his senior season, Iacuessa has a career pitching record of 12-4 with 158 strikeouts over 106 1/3 innings, a 1.51 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP. As a junior and senior, his ERA is 0.55 and his WHIP is 0.82.

At the plate, Iacuessa is hitting .409 with 12 RBI and eight runs scored. For his career, he’s a .333 hitter in Class A South, a league known for its high-quality pitching. His combined pitching and hitting numbers surely make Iacuessa a top-tier John Winkin Mr. Maine Baseball candidate, the award for Maine’s top senior.

Iacuessa may also be the quietest star player in Maine.

“He’s humble. He’s not going to go out of his way to let you know he’s The Guy,” says South Portland senior catcher Cam Barrett, a teammate since their Little League days. “But once you watch, you’ll know.”

BORN INTO BASEBALL

Iacuessa is not loud or brash. But make no mistake. He has always had confidence in his abilities. He also knows he has had advantages when it comes to learning the game.

His father, Geoff, is the president of the Portland Sea Dogs. From an early age, Hudson and his mother, Kristie — who has never missed one of his games, by the way — would head over to Hadlock Field in Portland to watch the Sea Dogs and spend some time with Geoff.

“I think that made my baseball IQ higher, just watching so many games from a young age,” Hudson says. “And I think it helped me a lot with falling in love with the game.”

Geoff Iacuessa said the only time he or Kristie made a baseball decision for Hudson was when they signed him up for T-ball. After that, it was Hudson always asking for more baseball.

When Hudson was 7, his baseball executive dad had his first strong inkling that his son was taking the game seriously.

Hudson’s youth coach asked if anyone had pitched. Hudson raised his hand. Geoff wasn’t so sure. Hudson assured his father he had been practicing. Geoff offered a proposition. They would go to the backyard and Geoff would catch 30 pitches. If he thought 25 were strikes, they’d go for ice cream.

“He threw 27 of 30 for strikes. We went to Red’s,” Geoff said.

SURROUNDED BY TALENT

As a freshman, Iacuessa was good enough to crack the starting lineup on a senior-laden team that went 17-3 and claimed its second Class A championship in three seasons. He batted .276 and singled home the final run in South Portland’s 5-0 championship game win against Edward Little.

South Portland coach Mike Owens said he put Iacuessa in right field because the team needed outfielders and, most of all, “he had a swing that played” at the varsity level because his bat stayed in the zone a long time.

After graduating 12 seniors, the 2024 squad was very young. Iacuessa hit .382 and started seven games on the mound, competing well. His record of 2-3 wasn’t great, but his 48 strikeouts over 37 2/3 innings showed the promise that Owens and pitching coach Jason Cooke had first spotted years earlier at clinics and youth games.

“He’s stronger. He’s added velocity. He’s always been good,” Owens said.

Each season, Iacuessa’s velocity has crept up. Now, his fastball with natural run is topping out in the 87-88 mph range, and Iacuessa expects he will improve on that number when he focuses only on pitching at Stonehill College.

As a junior, Iacuessa was coming off a late-summer surgery and subsequent six-month recovery and rehabilitation to repair his dislocated right knee cap. Relying almost exclusively on his fastball and slider, he went 6-1 with a 0.60 ERA, striking out 69 batters over 46 2/3 innings.

Now he’s added a split-fingered changeup, and his strikeout numbers have jumped to over two per inning.

“He was still a great pitcher” as a junior, Barrett said. “This year, he trusts anything he throws, and I trust it, too.”

Best of all, Iacuessa is again surrounded by talent.

Nathan Masters, a transfer from Scarborough, is the Red Riots’ high-quality No. 2 starter. Masters is 2-0 and has allowed three hits and one run in 13 innings. South Portland pitchers have given up only 15 hits in seven games. The defense has been solid, making seven errors. The offense has outscored its competition 62-5.

South Portland (7-0) is No. 1 in this week’s Varsity Maine baseball poll. The meat of the Red Riots’ schedule is still to come.

Iacuessa knows that he was fortunate as a freshman to play with a group of baseball-loving seniors who ended their high school careers as state champions.

“I got to see what it takes to be at that level, and we’re trying to repeat it this year,” Iacuessa said.