Miller hopes to build on Foxcroft baseball success

DOVER-FOXCROFT — Veteran members of the Foxcroft Academy baseball team noticed a few changes as they arrived for the first full preseason practice of the spring Monday.

Their home field, buried by heavy snow as workouts began each of the last two years, was nearly playable in advance of the day’s expected rainfall, with coaches hoping to have the Ponies shag fly balls on the already dry outfield later this week while also setting up a makeshift infield on the grass as the regular infield continues to dry out.

Foxcroft also has a new head coach in Nick Miller, promoted to the varsity post after Mark Chevalier left last summer to take a job as associate director of communications at The American School in Montagnola, Switzerland.

Chevalier guided the Ponies to a 71-22 record in five years, a run highlighted by the 2012 Eastern Maine Class B championship and an undefeated regular season and trip to the 2011 Eastern C title game.

Foxcroft went 12-4 last spring to earn the No. 4 seed in the final Eastern B Heal point ratings, then defeated Caribou in a preliminary-round game before falling to Winslow in the regional quarterfinals.

Miller, an English teacher at the academy who served as an assistant baseball coach under Chevalier the last two seasons as well as an assistant football coach with the Ponies for three years, has the initial goal of working to maintain Foxcroft’s status as a contender within the Penobscot Valley Conference and Eastern Maine Class B ranks.

“We’ve got some kids who have come along in our program under some good coaching with Mark,” said Miller, a catcher and pitcher at Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield during his high school days. “I hope to continue that with my own coaching and what they’re able to do on the field.”

Miller expected 25 or more players to turn out for full-team practices, which would provide the program enough players to field full varsity and junior varsity squads. Foxcroft played 10 JV games last spring and hopes to play as many as 14 subvarsity contests this year.

Miller and his staff, including assistant coaches Scott Pangburn, Rob Rockwell, Kevin Church and Matt Spooner Sr., welcomed 12 players to last week’s pitchers-and-catchers workouts designed to help build up arm strength in advance of the season.

The Maine Principals’ Association this year removed its previous limits of eight pitchers and two catchers who could attend those pre-practice workouts.

“It went very well,” said Miller. “The guys came in pretty sharp and worked hard and it’s nice to have more than the traditional 10 so we could get some young arms in there, too.

“For me it was still important have a smaller group to be able to work one-on-one with the kids, but I was glad to have the opportunity to bring in three freshmen, too, to get some JV arms ready because they need the strength buildup as much if not more than the older kids.”

Three seniors are expected to anchor Foxcroft’s pitching rotation this spring. Nate Church, who stood out in a relief capacity last spring, will move into a starting role along with classmate Tanner Strout, and they will be joined by hard-throwing Noah Allen, a transfer from Penquis Valley of Milo.

Graduation losses included all-conference catcher Brooks Law and pitcher-shortstop Nick Decker, but keys to this year’s attack could include junior outfielders Chandler Rockwell and Billy Brock, classmate Logan Butera, senior catcher Jason Thompson and sophomore pitcher-catcher Levi Stedman, a transfer from Bangor Christian with two years of varsity experience already behind him.

Miller anticipates a highly competitive battle for PVC bragging rights, with Old Town and Mount Desert Island of Bar Harbor among the teams to beat.

“It’s hard to look at any teams in our league this year and really think they’re going to be very down,” said Miller. “They usually all field pretty good clubs.”

Foxcroft opens its regular-season schedule April 19 at Dexter. The Ponies will play seven home games and nine road contests, the difference resulting from a doubleheader at Presque Isle.