Baseball Players Honored - Four members of the Bridgton Academy baseball team were selected to the New England Club Baseball Association's Northern Division All-Star team for the 2009 fall season. Highlighting the list was Will Whittemore (Waltham, MA) who was named Pitcher of the Year. Will was 4-0 in conference play, tossing shutouts against Merrimack College and Boston University, while posting an incredible 1.20 ERA. Teammate Tad Gold (Vineyard Haven, MA) was named Offensive Player of the Year. Tad, who played left and centerfield, hit .490 including four-hit games against University of New England and against Northeastern University in the championship game. Gold had at least one hit in every game except one and eight times had multiple hit games as he led the Wolverines in batting average and runs scored (17). Tom MacInnes (Plymouth, MA), the third Wolverine named to the All-Star squad, was selected as an outfielder. Tom opened the conference season with a three-hit, thirteen strikeout pitching performance against the University of Maine. He finished the year 4-1, losing only to Northeastern University in the championship game. When not pitching, Tom played centerfielder and finished second behind Gold in hitting with a .488 average with nine multiple hit games. Rounding off the list was Sam Stauber (Cumberland, ME) who played virtually every game at second, although he was the winning pitcher in the second game against the University of Maine. Sam hit .483 with seven multiple hit games, while solidifying an excellent infield defense.

In their first fall season, the Wolverines finished with an overall record of 16-2, undefeated the NECBA's Northern Division, while losing their only game in the championship final, 9-6, to Northeastern University. Did you miss seeing the baseball team in action this Fall? The new spring schedule has now been released.

Wolverines Suffer Losses, Bounce Back With Defeat over #1 Seed - Competing in the National Prep Invitational Tournament at the University of Rhode Island, the Bridgton Academy Wolverines took on the Canarias Basketball Academy in their first game. Bridgton got off to a slow start and overcame deficits of 9-0 and 11-2 to post perhaps their best win of the season, 75-58. Implementing multiple defenses after falling behind early, the Wolverines were able to battle their way back into the contest thanks to hot shooting. Chance Jones (Knoxville, TN) hit a three at the buzzer to take a 38-37 lead at halftime. Bridgton carried that momentum into the second half as they quickly extended the lead to five, and never looked back. The Wolverines had one of their best shooting performances of the season as ten players got in on the scoring and BA never trailed in the half. The Black and Gray broke the game open in the final six minutes as the lead increased to double digits. Alex Harris (Richmond, CA) lead all scorers with 28 points, Jones finished with 17.

The next three games would prove to be challenging for Bridgton. In their second game of the Prep Tournament at URI, the Wolverines faced off against Northfield Mount Hermon, suffering a 80-58 loss. In the early goings the two teams exchanged baskets, but the inside force and outside shooting of NMH was too much for Bridgton as the Hoggers opened up a 20 point halftime lead. Bridgton was never able to seriously respond with an offensive attack of their own.

After returning to Maine, Bridgton travelled into the Northern reaches of the Pine Tree State to take on rival MCI. The Huskies broke open a 12 point halftime lead to thump the Wolverines 91-63. Paul Dick (Belfast, Ireland) and Alex Harris (Richmond, CA) led the offense with 22 points apiece.

The struggles continued for BA on February 13^th when the Wolverines their third loss in a row, this time at the hands of the South Kent Cardinals, 80-59. The Cardinals used decisive runs during each half to pull away from BA. Ruben Kanya (Hamilton, Ontario) led the Wolverine offense with a season high 16 points. Coach Lesure praised Kanya's efforts afterward saying, "Our toughest guy responded to today's challenge. He was really good on the defensive end too."
After the game, Coach Lesure remained positive. "Sometimes during a season you have to acknowledge where you're at... we're not very good right now but I think we're closer to beating good teams than our guys might realize. Part of my job is helping us break through to a higher level of play in the next two weeks. I am very confident we can achieve that and pursue the championship aggressively as we have in the past."

Taking a page out of the University of Connecticut's playbook, where an assistant coach replaces the Hall of Fame head coach due to illness, the Wolverines took on Phillips Exeter with assistant Bob Holden at the helm. Bridgton, slumping of late, was looking for a much needed NEPSAC victory. The Wolverdome had a different feel early Wednesday evening, without the animated Lesure patrolling the sidelines. Holden used his calm demeanor to guide the Wolverines to an 80-69 victory.

In a game that was closer than the final score indicated, the Wolverines were able to snap a three game losing streak, and in doing so Holden picked up his first career win. Following the game the assistant coach said, "I got the call about 10am this morning, but thought I was being set up. When I showed up for shoot around and Whit (Lesure) and Tim (Atwood) weren't here I was looking around for them hiding somewhere." Eight players got on the board for BA, including six with five points or more. Harris finished with a game high 26, Paul Dick (Belfast, Ireland) added 17, Chance Jones (Knoxville, TN) had 15, with 12 coming in the first half by way of 4 three pointers. Holden kept it simple with the players telling them before the game, "It's your team, go out there and play like one."

 

This past weekend, Bridgton traveled to Lee Academy for a non conference match up, before entering their final week of NEPSAC regular season play. The Wolverines were looking to pick up consecutive victories for just the third time this season. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be, as Bridgton ended with a 75-69 loss.

Bridgton's momentum changed in a big way last night, as a season long journey of putting a complete game together carried the Wolverines to an exciting upset of NEPSAC #1 ranked Brewster Academy, 70-67 last night at the Wolverdome. After a sluggish start which saw the visitors bolt to a 13-4 lead within the first five minutes, the home squad played some inspired basketball to get even at the half on a 3 point bucket by Ruben Kanya (Hamilton, Ontario). The teams went into the locker rooms deadlocked at 28.  Bridgton started fast in the second half to take their first lead at 33-28. The last ten minutes saw more back and forth play with the Wolverines responding to each Brewster run. During one stretch the two teams traded several long range bombs that had the overflowing ancient hoop hall rocking.

BA secured the lead for the last time in the final two minutes and withstood the full court pressure of the Bobcats with Alex Harris (Richmond, CA) hitting four clutch free throws to seal the upset victory. Harris was outstanding all night leading all scorers with 29 points but also handling the ball and setting up his teammates for big shots of their own. One of those shots was an athletic put-back by Jeff Schmeltz (Pascoag, RI) off a Harris miss with 23 seconds to go that gave the Wolverines a 4 point cushion. Kevin Anthony (Columbus, OH) chipped in with 9 points of his own in his first start late in the regular season and added 6 rebounds to the hustling Bridgton defense.

The Bridgton effort was markedly improved over many performances to date and Coach Lesure had a hard time pin-pointing any specific area of play in his comments afterward. "We played very well, as consistently as we have against any team this year." Details on the 2010 NEPSAC Tournament will be emailed as soon as available.

Click here to view the last few minutes of Bridgton's win over Brewster!