McAvoy, Henry claim Zone 1 season honors

BREWER – One burst onto the college baseball scene this spring, helping to power the University of Maine Black Bears back to the NCAA Tournament.

The other was merely the state’s Mr. Baseball for his work in the high school ranks.

And both Kevin McAvoy of Brewer and Collin Henry of Trenton were honored Wednesday for continuing their strong play throughout the American Legion regular season.

McAvoy was named the Zone 1 player of the year, while Henry was selected pitcher of the year by a vote of zone coaches at Brewer High School.

Emery Shute of Waldo, who coached the Wildcats to a 12-10 regular-season record and the No. 4 seed for the Zone 1 tournament that begins Friday at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor, was named coach of the year.

McAvoy, a freshman All-American at Maine this spring, returned to Brewer for a final summer of Legion baseball and led the Falcons to a 19-3 record and the No. 1 seed for the zone tournament. The four-time All-Zone 1 choice batted .512 with five home runs, 20 RBIs and 20 runs scored with a .639 on-base percentage for Brewer, which lost only once when he was in the lineup.

Henry, who earned Mr. Baseball honors as a senior at George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill, was the ace of a deep pitching staff that led Trenton to a 15-7 record and the No. 3 zone tournament seed. The lefthander had a 4-0 record this summer with a 0.58 earned run average and 37 strikeouts and 10 walks in 31 innings. This marks the third year Henry has earned All-Zone 1 honors.

Brewer and No. 2 seed Bangor dominated the All-Zone 1 first team, each with five representatives on the 14-player squad.

In addition to McAvoy, Brewer’s first-team selections were pitcher Jim Nicknair (4-1, 1 save, 1.48 ERA), shortstop Chris Maguire (.414, 19 RBIs, .553 OBP), designated hitter Prentiss Swett (.467, 23 RBIs, .522 OBP), and utility player Joe Robicheau (.400, 18 RBIs).

Bangor’s first-team contingent is led by Anthony DeRosa, a third-time All-Zone 1 choice as a pitcher after compiling a 4-0 record with a 1.81 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 31 innings. Other Comrades honored were pitcher Ian Edwards (6-0, 1.12 ERA), catcher Gordon Webb (.464, 22 RBIs, .696 slugging percentage), third baseman Shane Walton (.438, 26 runs, 16 RBIs, 19 stolen bases) and outfielder Kyle Vanidestine (.362, 30 runs, 15 RBIs and 40-for-44 in stolen base attempts).

Rounding out the first team were first baseman Josh Pelletier of Penquis (.429, 3 HR, 22 RBI, .597 OBP, .661 slugging percentage, 6 stolen bases), second baseman Jarrett Lukas of Orono (.467, 9 HR, 29 RBI, 29 runs), outfielder Phineas Peake of Trenton (.340, 13 runs, 7 RBIs, 9 SB), and outfielder Joel Neill of Hampden (.427, 20 RBIs, 19 runs).

Eight of the zone’s 10 teams were represented on the second team, including three players from Bangor and two each from Penquis, Presque Isle and Waldo.

Named to the All-Zone 1 second team were pitchers Corey Cushing of Brewer (5-0, 3.09 ERA), Andy Pooler of Trenton (3-2. .2.60 ERA) and Jim Cox of Bangor (3-1, 2.07 ERA), catcher Dusty Thomas of Orono (.418, 5 HR, 22 RBIs), first baseman Scott Hackett of Bangor.373, 3 HR, 25 RBI), second baseman Tyler Thompson of Lincoln (.391, 19 runs), shortstop Logan York of Presque Isle (.464, 28 runs, .605 OBP) and third baseman Josh Nickerson of Waldo (.345, 2 HR, 10 RBI).

Manning the outfield are Miles Davee of Waldo (.403, 16 runs), Matt McGlinn of Presque Isle (.347, 6 HR, 24 RBIs), and Tom Crews of Bangor (.333, 19 runs, 18 SB), while Joey Kane of Penquis (.288, 20 runs, 8 SB) is the designated hitter and Dan Beatham of Penquis (.347, 22 RBIs) is the second-team utility honoree.

Penquis wins tiebreaker

The six-team, double-elimination Zone 1 tournament starts Friday with a tripleheader at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor.

No. 1 Brewer (19-3) will face No. 6 Presque Isle (11-11) at noon, followed at 4 p.m. by No. 2 Bangor (18-4) against No. 5 Penquis (11-11) and at 8 p.m. by No. 3 Trenton (15-7) against No. 4 Waldo (12-10).

Penquis earned the No. 5 seed over Presque Isle via a tiebreaker. The teams split their two regular-season games, including Presque Isle’s 7-6, nine-inning victory over the Navigators on Tuesday night – a game the Patriots trailed 6-0 entering the bottom of the sixth inning.

But Penquis had the edge in the next tiebreaker, in which each of the team was awarded points for each of its victories based on the number of total victories by each opponent. For example, Penquis and Presque Isle each defeated 19-3 Brewer once this summer, so each team earned 19 points for that victory.

When the points for all 11 victories by each team were totaled, Penquis finished with 91 points compared to 86 for Presque Isle, and thus earned the higher seed, according to Zone 1 commissioner Dave Paul.