In 20 years as the Lee Academy baseball coach, Randy Harris has created an environment that has given his players the best opportunity to succeed – a fact borne out by the Pandas’ six appearances in Eastern Maine championship games and three regional titles.

But as Lee prepared to play Shead of Eastport in the Class D regional final at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor on Wednesday night, he made a special request of his players.

“This is going to be my last year,” Harris said. “So I told the guys before the game that I hate to beg and ask for favors, but if I’m going to go out I’d like to go out in a state game whether it’s win or lose, so pick me up. I can’t think of a better bunch of kids to coach, especially our seniors [Nate Dow, Zac Currie, Jason Mallett and Hyun Sung Ro].”

His team responded exactly as Harris might expect, defeating Shead 14-4 in six innings to improve to 16-3 and earn a berth in Saturday’s state final against WM titlist North Yarmouth Academy.

Harris told his players of his plans to step down before the season started, a decision he has made for family reasons.

“My daughter’s going to be in high school next year, and I’m going to watch her play softball, and my son plays junior high baseball,” Harris said.

“Down the road four or five years when my daughter graduates and my son’s in high school, if something comes up and they need a coach, I’d probably love to get back into it, but if I don’t, I don’t.”

The 1980 Lee Academy graduate will continue to serve as the school’s athletic director and boys varsity basketball coach. Through his administrative work he’ll still be part of the baseball program, “but instead of being their coach I’ll be their No. 1 fan,” he said.

As Harris reflects on 20 years in the dugout, he remembers the championship games – Lee lost its first three EM finals with Harris at the helm, but is 3-0 in those games since then -but more than that he remembers the relationships baseball has fostered over the years, particularly those with his players.

“I told the kids that there’s two things I love more than anything else in the world,” he said. “One is coaching them, and one is watching my children play, and watching my children play is just a nose better than coaching these guys.

“Right now it’s time to be a father. I’ve been a coach for 20 years.”

Through a scout’s eyes

When Tony Blengino first saw Mark Rogers pitch last summer during an amateur baseball showcase in Wilmington, N.C., the northeast area scout for the Milwaukee Brewers had a good feel for the pitcher from Orrs Island and Mount Ararat High School.

And why not? Rogers’ fastball was clocked at 95 miles per hour, and his curve was nearly as impressive.

“I thought he was definitely a guy who needed to be followed,” Blengino said, “because he had a powerful arm and a pretty good feel for a pitcher who was 17 at the time.”

Less than a year later, Blengino and the Brewers are on the brink of signing Rogers to a big-money contract, the result of his selection by the team as the No. 5 overall pick in Monday’s amateur draft.

Blengino, for one, couldn’t be happier.

“He’s about as close to the entire package as you can get, especially for a high school kid,” he said.

Blengino, who was in Bangor on Tuesday night to watch Rogers pitch Mount Ararat to a 4-1 win over Brewer in the Eastern Maine Class A final, spent much of the winter and all spring tracking Rogers’ progress as he prepared his evaluation of the 6-foot-2, 205-pound righthander.

By early May, he was convinced Rogers was a viable candidate to be taken with the Brewers’ first pick.

“I knew he was capable last summer, but at that point there were other guys who were capable of being picked there, too,” Blengino. “By the second time I saw him this year, it was clear to me he had made the strides necessary to be that guy, and that I would be supported within the organization to consider drafting him that high.”

That determination was made not only by analyzing Rogers’ physical tools, but also his overall makeup.

“A lot of kids have ability, but with Mark it comes down not only to ability, but to his makeup, his maturity, and his ability to handle adversity,” Blengino said. “We think Mark is well-equipped for what lies ahead. Not every 18-year-old is ready to handle going cross-country to play baseball and leave their family, but Mark has been handling media interviews and signing autographs; he’s gone through a lot and had a lot of preparation in that regard.”

As for Rogers’ physical capabilities, it’s not so much a case of development, but refinement.

“We’ve seen him throw up to 98, so it’s not a matter of needing to build that up, but to develop consistency, and for him to fully mature physically,” Blengino said. “He’s still a work in progress, but he has a lot in the tank already. The key is to get to the point where he’s even more consistent than he is now. The stuff is there, there could be marginal improvement, but the stuff is already there.”

Blengino said negotiations between Rogers and the Brewers will begin soon after Mount Ararat plays Deering of Portland in Monday’s Class A state championship game at Hadlock Field in Portland.

Once Rogers is signed, Blengino said he’ll be assigned to the Brewers’ rookie league team in Maryvale, Ariz., where he is expected to spend the rest of the year.

“After that, performance dictates the rest,” Blengino said.