WATERVILLE — This year, the Dr. John Winkin Award will be presented at Colby College, where Winkin began his extraordinary baseball coaching career.

Before taking over as baseball coach at the University of Maine, Winkin coached the Colby baseball team for 20 years, winning 301 games. On Friday, the Maine High School Baseball Coaches Association will name this year’s winner of the Dr. John Winkin “Mr. Baseball” Award at Colby’s Coombs Field. The presentation will be at approximately 6:30 p.m., before the first pitch of the Class A/B Senior All-Star Game. The Class C/D Senior All-Star Game will precede the award ceremony and begin at 3 p.m.

Valley senior pitcher Cody Laweryson delivers a pitch during a Class D South semifinal against Richmond earlier this month. Laweryson is a finalist for the Dr. John Winkin award, which be annoucned Friday night at Colby College. Staff file photo by Michael G. Seamans

Among the nine Winkin Award finalists are a pair of central Maine players, Cody Laweryson of Valley and Hall-Dale’s Ryan Sinclair. The University of Maine-bound Laweryson was the East/West Conference Player of the Year, and helped lead the Cavaliers to the Class D South championship game. Sinclair, who will attend Holy Cross, was the Mountain Valley Conference Player of the Year.

Joining Laweryson and Sinclair as Winkin Award finalists are Trevor DeLaite of Bangor, Ben Lambert of Thornton Academy, Connor Aube of Falmouth, Nick Mazurek of Oceanside, Nick Guerette of Hermon, Roderick Maynard of Sacopee Valley, and Thomas Spencer of Penobscot Valley.

Prior to the Winkin Award ceremony, Sinclair and Laweryson will be teammates on the Class C South team in the C/D All-Star Game. Also on the team is Madison’s Chase Malloy, Laweryson’s cousin. This is the second all-star game in which the cousins are teammates this year. They also played together on the C/D South team in the McDonald’s all-star basketball game in March.

Other central Maine players on the C/D South team are Jonah Martin (Oak Hill), Chandler Harris (Monmouth), Connor Nilson (Oak Hill), Tyler Soucy (Richmond), Collin Miller (Valley), Gage Cote (Monmouth), Dalton Therrien (Oak Hill), and Nick Sanborn (Monmouth).

Among the players on the Class A/B North roster are Derek Bowen (Lawrence), Nick Berube (Gardiner), Jake Trask (Winslow), and Dalton Wood (Waterville).

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM