Some of the best high school baseball players in the region hope to follow Joel Barrett’s path to success at the University of Maine.

Barrett, a former star at Brewer High School, went to Maine, redshirted for a year while building up his body and baseball skills, and has emerged over the last two seasons as one of the Black Bears’ top hitters.

Kevin McAvoy of Brewer and Brian Hackett of Bangor are set to attend Maine next fall and join the Black Bears’ baseball program. Neither expects to make an immediate impact, but both join Hampden Academy pitcher Pat Moran – who already had signed to attend Maine – to make the Penobscot Valley Conference Class of 2005 a contributing part of the Maine baseball program for the next few years.

“I’ve always wanted to play Division I baseball,” said McAvoy, a third baseman. “I’ve had a lot of offers from Division III schools and smaller schools around the area and they’re all great schools, but it’s just something I’ve always wanted to do, play Division I baseball, and now I’ve got the chance.”

For Hackett, Barrett isn’t the only baseball template he has to follow as he pursues a Division I baseball future. His father, Ed, was a catcher at Maine in the early 1980s and helped the Black Bears earn four straight trips to the College World Series.

“My dad tells me all the time that it’s hard work, but it’s worth it,” said Hackett, a third baseman who plans to major in chemistry.

Both have spoken to Maine coach Paul Kostocopoulos about how they might fit into the Maine baseball program.

“If I have to wait my turn, I’ll wait my turn,” said McAvoy. “If I have to redshirt, I’ll do whatever I have to do up there to just get the chance to show what I can do.”

“He’s always seen me at third base,” added Hackett of Kostocopoulos, “but he said if I could play anywhere else, that might help, so I might try to catch as well.”

Brewer baseball coach David Morris, who has mentored both Barrett and McAvoy and has squared off against Hackett and Moran for several years, believes all three can have an impact at the collegiate level – in part thanks to the inroads already made by Barrett.

“As far as the last decade or so, I think Joel Barrett in a lot of ways has opened the door for a lot of kids in this area,” he said. “You think back the last eight or 10 years and there haven’t been a lot of kids from Eastern Maine up there, and it seems like there are a lot more kids now who can play at that level.

“It’s a tribute to Legion baseball and high school baseball that you’ve got a run of good athletes coming through now like there was in the early ’80s. It’s great for Maine baseball, and if these kids can handle the pressure and work hard and stick with it, it might take them a year or two or three, but they’ll be contributors.”