As one of the grizzled veterans on Pastime Club’s three-time Zone 3 championship team, Corbin Hyde has seen his team find countless ways to win big baseball games over the years.

Hyde never saw his team win the way it won this year’s zone championship, on a technicality that was later deemed incorrect by zone officials. But it is what happened before the controversial ending against Windham, when Pastime rallied from an early 5-1 deficit to take a brief lead in that game, that left the biggest impression on him.

“We have a lot of guys that we lost from last year, so we have a bunch of new guys,” Hyde said. “Just knowing that we were down in that game and we could fight back like we did before with those guys is huge. It really says a lot about us that we can fight back like teams we’ve had in the past.”

Pastime coach Dave Jordan agreed, and hopes it bodes well when the Lewiston-based begins the state American Legion tournament against Zone 2 champion The Red Barn of Augusta at 10 a.m. on Thursday at Morton Field in Augusta.

“I like the blend of youth and experience that we have on our team,” Jordan said. “We return several players that have been through the battles of a state tourney in the past and have had a lot of success. We have added some young but talented players to the mix as well.”

Hyde, the anchor of the pitching staff, and shortstop/pitcher Luke Cote are the lone holdovers from Pastime’s back-to-back state championship teams in 2010-11 (the first year under the Gayton Post moniker). Both will figure prominently in Pastime’s pitching plans, along with two others with state tournament experience, Ryan Riordan and Eddie Emerson.

Pastime (17-4) boasts enviable experience in the front four spots of its mound corps. But the double-elimination tournament often comes down to the back end of the pitching staff,  Jordan said.

“The tourney is a grind,” Jordan said. “Teams have to get the early wins in the tourney, then it often comes down to depth of pitching staff. Typically, pitchers five through eight need to give some inning if you are going to make it deep in the tourney.”

That means Mike Wong, younger brother of Alex, one of the heroes in 2010 when Gayton Post won its first state title, Brian Wigant and Alex Small will likely have to lend their support on the mound if Pastime is going to make its fourth consecutive state final.

Five straight days of baseball wears arms down quickly, so slugfests are more commonplace than pitchers duels in the state tournament. Pastime has the firepower to scores runs in bunches with Cote and Small setting the table for Riordan, Hyde, Emerson and Nick Perreault.

The Red Barn (17-3) will start Cony ace Zack Lachance against that lineup. Tayler Carrier, Jory Humphrey and Lachance lead the offense.

Zone 3 runner-up Windham vowed to use the outcome of its zone tournament as motivation going forward, and its 12-4 win over Madison in Saturday’s play-in game backs that up. The zone regular-season champions will meet Zone 4 champion Westbrook at 2 p.m. at Morton.

The winner of Saturday’s other play-in game, Zone 1 runner-up Bangor, faces Zone 5 champion Fayette-Staples of Saco at 11 a.m. at McGuire Field. Zone 5 runner-up Staples Crossing of South Berwick takes on Zone 1 champion Brewer to wrap up the first day at 4 p.m. at McGuire.