Harvey best in Zone 1

Jason Harvey, who decided to play basketball last summer instead of American Legion baseball, returned to baseball with an exclamation point this summer.

The slick-fielding Brewer Falcons shortstop was named the Zone 1 Player of the Year by the zone’s coaches on Tuesday evening.

Harvey hit .506 with six homers, 36 runs batted in, five doubles and four triples. He also scored 41 runs.

His teammate, lefthander Chad Gomm, was selected the Pitcher of the Year thanks to his 6-0 record and 1.94 earned run average and Falcons coach David Morris was named the Coach of the Year.

Morris, Harvey, and Gomm led the Falcons to a 21-1 regular season.

“If you put Jason Harvey on any other team, they would have won three or four more games because of his defense and ability to put the ball in play,” said Orono coach Aaron Watson.

“He had some outstanding numbers. He has been a class act for several years,” said Trenton coach Bunky Dow. “He comes to play every day. He really hurt us. We couldn’t even walk him because he’d steal bases on us. He was a threat all the time.”

Dow also said Morris was an outstanding choice for coach of the year and going 21-1 was quite a feat.

“I have the utmost respect for David and the job he did. He kept them focused. They came to play every day and that’s a tribute to Dave and his approach to the game,” said Dow.

Two other Falcons were first team choices: first baseman Joel Barrett (.586-7 homers-35 RBIs, 10 doubles, 32 runs) and second baseman Abram Allard (.423, 29 RBIs).

Bangor had four first-teamers in pitchers Billy Chapman (4-2, 1.95 ERA) and Josh Young (3-2, 1.38), third baseman Andy Tremble (.433-1-17, 6 doubles, 12 stolen bases) and DH Zev Myerowitz (.348-2-21).

Waldo-Knox had three representatives on the first team in pitcher Parker Tootill (3-2, 2.95), outfielder Chris Carmen (.391, 10 RBIs), and catcher Devin Potvin (.358-1-16); Trenton had a pair in outfielder Blake Alley (.419-2-18, 14 SBs) and pitcher Chris Sargent (4-1, 2.06) as did Penquis with shortstop Adam Russell (.433, 26 runs) and utility player James Gray (.392-2-19).

Rounding out the team was Lincoln’s Jeremy Ham (.349-1-12).