LEWISTON — The successful candidate at Lewiston High School baseball tryouts will swing with authority.

Throw hard enough to make that telltale pop in the catcher’s mitt.

Cover 60 yards in seven seconds, give or take.

Oh, and other than that, not move around much.

“Bring your hard hat,” cautioned Lewiston coach Todd Cifelli.

With temperatures in the low 30s and the enduring remnant of snowbanks surrounding the mud flat that is Franklin Pasture, prospective Blue Devils were forced into the school gymnasium.

Forty-three players — a phenomenal number for a pastime that struggles to drum up even bare-minimum numbers at many tri-county schools — reported for duty from 6:30 to 9:45 p.m.

Monday was the first permissible day for tryouts and full-team practices in preparation for the spring high school sports season, as mandated by the Maine Principals’ Association.

Pitchers and catchers were given special dispensation to report a week ago. With everyone now in camp, Lewiston got down to business in earnest.

“It’s pretty much like spring training for a major league team,” Lewiston senior Mekae Hyde said.

That’s the perspective of a heavy-hitting, slick-fielding catcher and infielder gearing up for his fourth season of varsity ball.

Much less is guaranteed for Lewiston’s freshmen, sophomores and juniors. For most of them, it is a literal tryout.

“Cifelli is pretty organized,” Hyde said.

“We know what to do,” senior Scott Ouellette added. “He has his clipboard.”

Cifelli, who also is a major league scout, has modified the same rubric he uses for the Cincinnati Reds to grade the Blue Devils.

Shortly after a team briefing to discuss procedural and safety issues in the crowded indoor quarters, the partitions that usually separate Lewiston’s three basketball courts descended from the ceiling.

Think of it as an orderly three-ring circus.

“We’re trying to assess the kids’ athletic quotient,” Cifelli said.

One section of the gym was devoted to fielding drills.

Elsewhere, radar guns measured both the livelihood of arms and the velocity of the ball as it left the batting tee.

It all happened under the watchful eyes of a veteran staff. Longtime Mt. Ararat coach Craig Rogers — father of professional pitcher Mark Rogers — and former Edward Little football and baseball coach Darren Hartley have joined the ranks.

“We’re trying to get some quantifiable data,” Cifelli said. “What I’m really excited about is having six coaches to give the kids a true assessment.”

Later in the week, weather permitting, players will be timed in the 60-yard dash and possibly field open-air fungos.

“Being indoors where it’s 70 degrees and where arms are fresh, we’ll take that,” Cifelli said. “You can have some really bad practices when it’s cold. It’s nice being inside where the conditions are even.”

When the three-day tryout is over, each athlete will receive a “report card,” conveying his grade in more than two dozen subcategories underneath the headings of hitting, running, throwing and fielding.

Cifelli then will make himself available for 90 minutes to meet with any players and parents who wish to discuss the analysis in-person.

Then he’ll announce the team.

“That doesn’t mean every kid and every parent is going to agree with the decision,” said Cifelli, “but at least I think they’ll have to say it was a fair tryout.”

While there’s a chance that some players could be cut, Cifelli will find a place for most of them. Lewiston has the luxury of three teams: varsity, junior varsity and freshman.

And it is a luxury. Many local Class B and C schools have disbanded their junior varsity teams in recent years due to dwindling turnout.

Jay finished last season with nine eligible players. Even Oxford Hills carried only three substitutes on a senior-laden team that won the Class A championship.

Interest in Lewiston has been fueled by successful Little League and summer programs. Both the senior and junior American Legion teams out of Gayton Post won state championships last July.

“I think Legion has put Lewiston baseball on the map,” Hyde said. “Now we’re trying to make high school like that. On paper we’re pretty good, but we need to show it.”

Once the indoor hubbub of tryouts is over, the Devils will walk into a different crossfire.

Lewiston is scheduled to open its preseason schedule next Tuesday at Thornton Academy in Saco.

The regular season begins during April’s school vacation week. Bangor, Brewer, Cony, Brunswick, Oxford Hills and EL are among the teams that will challenge the Blue Devils for Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference and Eastern Class A supremacy.

“We’re trying to help some of the younger kids at tryouts, show some leadership and make sure Lewiston baseball has a good atmosphere,” Ouellette said. “Our first couple of years, we just wanted to get to the playoffs. Now it’s different. We want to do a little more damage.”

koakes@sunjournal.com