Ex-UM star LeBlanc likes Forest Hills post

Mike LeBlanc made 69 pitching appearances in relief for the University of Maine baseball team and notched a school record of 19 career saves. But for the past three days, LeBlanc has been in his new job as a physical education and health teacher at Forest Hills High School in Jackman.

Since his graduation from Maine in 1989, LeBlanc has worked for the Rockland Recreation Department and served as an administrative assistant at the middle school in Skowhegan, his hometown.

The record-setting LeBlanc said he’s excited to get back to teaching and the area.

“I come here to hunt and fish. I really like it up here. Getting the job, I just heard about the opening and applied and got it. It’s great to be back teaching.”

LeBlanc still has his hand in baseball, as a pitcher for the Eastern Maine Amateur Baseball League champion Mid-Maine Marlins. He has also applied for the baseball-coach position at Forest Hills.

LeBlanc set school records in career saves (19) and season saves (12, in 1989). He was 13-2 with a 3.22 earned run average while at Maine.

The Pittsburgh Pirates drafted LeBlanc in the 51st round of the 1988 major league draft, but he elected to return to Maine for his senior year. The following year, the Seattle Mariners selected him in the 21st round.

Jessica Alex, a former three-sport athlete at Old Town High School, was recently named the recipient of the Robert Lahey Scholarship.

Alex, who is a freshman at Colby College in Waterville this fall, was the captain and MVP of the Old Town soccer team last year, the captain of the state champion-gymnastics team, and played tennis for the Indians. She graduated second in the Class of 1997.

The $500 scholarship is awarded to a student-athlete from the Penobscot Valley Conference in memory of Robert Lahey, the Old Town athletic director who died of cancer in 1994. Conference athletic directors decide on the award-winner.