Deering shortstop Flaherty named Maine’s Mr. Baseball

ORONO – His father is a Maine baseball legend and longtime coach of the University of Southern Maine; he’s become a household name himself due to his exploits in Little League, American Legion and high school baseball; and Friday night he added Maine’s Mr. Baseball Award to his already impressive resume.

So where is Ryan Flaherty from Deering High School of Portland headed for college? The Volunteer State. No, Flaherty won’t be wearing orange and white for the University of Tennessee. He’s donning the gold and black of the Vanderbilt University Commodores instead.

“I kind of thought about going out of state, but I wanted go to the best place where I would play and play right away,” Flaherty said moments after winning the 14th annual Dr. John Winkin Mr. Baseball Award at the Senior All-Star Baseball Classic at the University of Maine’s Mahaney Diamond. “Vanderbilt showed a lot of interest in me and recruited me pretty hard.”

It didn’t hurt that Flaherty’s classmate, longtime teammate, and fellow Mr. Baseball finalist Andrew Giobbi is also heading to Nashville to catch for Vandy.

Flaherty’s won a high school Class A state baseball championship, an American Legion national championship, and numerous other awards, so it was only fitting he finish with another major honor.

“This is a big honor, especially coming from Coach Winkin, who’s such a legend in this state,” said the son of Ed Flaherty. “Winning an award like this is just a great accomplishment.”

The other two finalists for the award were Bangor’s Brian Hackett and Presque Isle’s Chad Lavway.