AUBURN — Lewiston High School’s loss is Edward Little High School’s gain on the baseball diamond.

After two years at the helm of the Lewiston Blue Devils’ program, head coach Dave Jordan is pulling up stakes and crossing the bridge to take over the vacant head coaching position with the rival Red Eddies.

“The biggest thing for me, coaching is a hobby,” Jordan said. “I love coaching, I love helping young people grow and master their skills, and particularly in baseball. But with a hobby, you also have to make sure when you balance work and family, that it fits. This change, going from Lewiston to EL, that’s what it’s about.”

Jordan went 18-16 in two seasons with the Blue Devils, including a pair of Eastern Class A quarterfinal appearances. Jordan has also been active in coaching the area’s American Legion club, both as a head coach and as an assistant.

“It may look like only two years on paper, but really it’s been about six when you count the junior Legion, Pastime Club teams and at the younger levels,” Jordan said. “(Former coach) Todd (Cifelli) was gracious enough to bring me in to help them out.”

Prior to coaching at Lewiston, Jordan coached at Bates College under Edwin Thompson for three years as a batting and fielding instructor. In 2010, the Bobcats batted .354 as a team and committed the fewest errors in the nation in Division III while winning a school-record 25 games.

Before that, Jordan helped turn around a struggling Poland Regional High School squad. In four years at Poland (2005-08), Jordan compiled a 55-17 record. The Knights won the Western Maine Conference regular season title in 2007 and reached the Western Maine Class B finals in 2005 and 2007. The Knights won the sportsmanship award in both 2005 and 2007, as well.

“I’ve umpired a lot of Dave’s games over the years,” Edward Little Athletic Director Dan Deshaies said. “I saw him at Poland when he was first there, and they were horrible, and he turned them right around. I’ve had Dave at Bates College, at Lewiston and during the American Legion season, and he’s always been a quality person and a quality coach.

“He’s a quality baseball guy, he puts a lot of time into it, between helping out the younger players, the varsity and the Legion teams,” Deshaies added. “Dave is a very, very, very good coach, and we’re really, really happy to bring him on board.”

“I wish he’d been here longer,” Lewiston AD Jason Fuller said. “But I understand his reasons. I think it’s a good move for him. He’s done a great job and he’s a big loss for our program, both at the high school and developmentally.”

Edward Little, which went 7-9 last spring, was looking for a replacement for longtime coach Scott Annear, who resigned at the end of the season after taking an administrative position at the school. Jordan is excited to start building upon what Annear and the previous staff accomplished.

“The biggest thing is, I like to start from the bottom up, and that means talking to the youth-level guys,” Jordan said. “I know a lot of people at Auburn Suburban (Little League) and at New Auburn, and we want to work together and make sure everyone is on the same page. As far as the high school guys, it’s a matter of putting in the small things, getting more runners on base, doing the little things so that when swinging the bats isn’t necessarily working, you can still get some runs across.

“I want to bring in coaches who are teachers, who can relate well to the players,” Jordan continued. “The previous staff did a lot of good things, and I’d like to build on that if we can and do more going forward.”

Lewiston’s position is now open, Fuller said.

“I think the program is in good shape,” Fuller said. “He’s left it in good shape.”

As for a heightened sense of rivalry now that Jordan has crossed the river?

“I’ve certainly worked with a lot of these guys on both teams for a long time, whether at a number of clinics or other events,” Jordan said. “I highly respect and have a great fondness for both communities. I don’t get into the rivalry between the teams as much as some other people do, and I think the Lewiston-Auburn community has a lot going for it in terms of baseball. This wasn’t about which side I liked more, it was about what was the right fit.”