Carl Parker is stepping down after two seasons as head coach of the Lee Academy postgraduate basketball team.

Parker, who resides in Bangor, cited travel as a primary reason for his decision. The Lee Academy campus is more than 60 miles from his home.

“Truthfully, there were times I was at home when I thought I should be at Lee, and times I was at Lee when I thought I should be home,” he said.

Parker took over Lee’s postgraduate basketball program in its second year of existence and helped in its continuing development in conjunction with school headmaster Bruce Lindberg and athletic administrator Randy Harris.

The Pandas have had several players move on to Division I college programs under Parker, including Nate Tomlinson (Colorado) and Chris Baskerville (Central Connecticut) from this year’s team.

A Lincoln native, Parker is a former boys varsity basketball coach at Bangor High School and Foxcroft Academy in Dover-Foxcroft, as well as an assistant coach for several years under Max Good with the Maine Central Institute postgraduate team.

He also has been one of the leaders of the state’s AAU basketball movement since helping to establish it in 1991. His success in the AAU ranks helped land Parker a berth in 2000 as an assistant coach at the third USA Basketball Men’s Youth Development Festival in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Last summer, Parker coached a team of Maine high school standouts to an 11th-place finish from among 153 teams at the junior boys/17-and-under AAU National Championships at Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Fla.

That marked the best-ever finish for a Maine team at the AAU nationals.

Parker will continue to coach at the AAU level, and hasn’t ruled out a return to coaching at the high school or prep ranks in the future.

“I really enjoy working with the kids,” he said.

Portwine takes Stearns post

Brandon Portwine, an assistant baseball coach at Stearns of Millinocket for the last two seasons, will serve as the Minutemen’s head coach this spring.

Portwine will replace John Montgomery, who is now athletic administrator at Schenck of East Millinocket.

Portwine has worked closely with Montgomery for the last two years, both at Stearns and also as an assistant to Montgomery with the Lincoln Lumber American Legion program.

Portwine plans to continue to coach under Montgomery on the Legion level this summer.

Portwine played high school baseball at both Stearns and Kents Hill, then walked on as a bullpen catcher at the University of Maine under head coach Dr. John Winkin.

He then moved out of state before returning to his native Millinocket two years ago. He currently works in his family’s business, Portwine of Maine, which specializes in producing cheese spreads, granola snacks and nutrition bars.

Stearns finished 14-5 last spring, including 12-4 during the regular season before advancing to the Eastern Maine Class C semifinals where the Minutemen were ousted by eventual regional champion Searsport.

Portwine expects more than 20 players to try out for this year’s team, a contingent featuring several key veterans led by seniors Justin Pelkey,

Jared Manzo and Jordan Manzo, all pitchers and outfielders; senior pitcher-first baseman Ryan Bolduc; and junior catcher-outfielder Cory Barnett.

“Most people are probably expecting us to go .500,” said Portwine. “I’m shooting for something like 12-4. We’ve got a really good group of kids coming back.”

Baseball practices throughout the state for pitchers and catchers begins next Monday, with each team allowed to have eight pitchers and two catchers at the workouts.

Full team practices begin the following Monday, March 31.

Lacrosse coming to Bangor

High school lacrosse is growing steadily in southern and central Maine, with 39 varsity boys teams and 37 varsity girls teams set to participate this spring and programs as far north as Camden Hills of Rockport and Messalonskee of Oakland.

But supporters of the sport are hoping to spread the word about the sport even farther north through a pair of preseason games to be held Saturday, April 12, on the campus of Husson College in Bangor.

The games will feature teams from two Portland schools, Cheverus and Waynflete, with the boys contest scheduled to start at 2 p.m. and the girls game to follow at 4 p.m.

“It’s growing in other areas of the state, and our thought was to come up here and give people a look at it,” said Jamie Chamberlain, president of the Maine chapter of U.S. Lacrosse and the girls varsity lacrosse coach at Cheverus.

Chamberlain added that plans are in the works for an information session about the sport and a youth lacrosse clinic to be held in conjunction with the games.

eclark@bangordailynews.net

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