Oak Hill senior Gavin Rawstron throws a pitch against Mt. Abram in Wales earlier this season. Tony Blasi/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
Kyle Douin and Gavin Rawstron didn’t get to have their junior seasons on the baseball field. They made up for it with their senior years, and the state took notice.
Cony’s Douin and Oak Hill’s Rawstron were named local finalists for the John Winkin Award, which is given annually to the state’s best senior baseball player. The two made the cut along with Bonny Eagle infielder Jacob Humphrey, Windham pitcher and catcher Brady Afthim, Bangor’s Bradley McLaughlin, Greely pitcher Brady Nolin and Medomak Valley’s Ethan Reed.
Douin, who played both pitcher and middle infield for the Rams, led Cony to an 8-8 record and the playoffs for the second straight season. He went 3-2 on the mound with a 2.02 ERA and 41 strikeouts in 33 innings, and also posted a .373 batting average with 12 RBI, two home runs and two triples.
Lawrence’s Logan Carpenter pops up a pitch from Cony’s Kyle Douin during a game earlier this season in Augusta. Cony catcher Aiden Fleck is at lower right. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal Buy this Photo
“It feels pretty cool to be included in such an exclusive group of great baseball players,” Douin said. “It shows how all my hard work and dedication and hours at the field have paid off.”
Douin said last year’s circumstances got him to play this season like it could end at any moment.
“I was just trying to go and have the best season I possibly could to help my team out,” he said. “I didn’t want to have the season end on a bad note, so every single day I went in and gave it my all and played like it could be my last, which it very well could have. … That was my mentality this year. Don’t have any regrets.”
Rawstron got the nod after a strong season as a pitcher and shortstop for the Raiders, leading Oak Hill to a 13-3 regular season record and the top seed in the Class C South tournament.
“It feels great, knowing how many athletes there are in Maine, to be one of those seven,” Rawstron said. “(This season) was great for our team. The past few years have been rough for Oak Hill baseball. We had a few losing seasons, a .500 season and losing in the tournament. We finally came back to having a nice season, we all came together strong.”
Rawstron was named the Mountain Valley Conference player of the year, and will be playing baseball next season for the University of Southern Maine. He said he was motivated to have a strong finishing season after last season was wiped out.
“A bunch of guys on our team put a lot of work in when we lost the season, that summer,” he said. “A lot of guys played travel baseball, played summer baseball to get better for this year, because we knew what we were missing out on. We wanted to make this last one special.”
The winner will be announced Wednesday during the underclassmen All-Star Game, which will be played at Saint Joseph’s College. Local players in that game will be Kam Douin (Cony), Mason Kelso and Tyler Annis (Skowhegan) and Hayden Fletcher (Monmouth), with Joe Hamelin (Waterville) and Ethan Vattaso (Oak Hill) included as alternates.
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