Gage Feeney has enjoyed an exciting start to the fall season.
On Saturday, the senior at Washington Academy in East Machias verbally committed to the University of Maine baseball team as a non-scholarship player for the 2015-2016 season.
“I’m really fired up,” Feeney said on Wednesday afternoon. “I always wanted to play at the highest level I could. I realized there was only one Division I school in Maine, so that was a goal I set.”
Feeney, a 6-foot-4 right-hander who attended Black Bear baseball camps for several years, said he plans to pursue an engineering degree at UMaine.
UMaine head coach Steve Trimper is prohibited by NCAA rules from commenting on Feeney at this time.
On Wednesday morning, Feeney experienced another thrill when he bagged a moose during the first week of the 2014 Maine hunt.
“It was an awesome time. It’s an experience you’ll never forget, a time to spend with my father and my two brothers,” said Feeney, who shot an 888-pound bull, which sported a 50-inch antler spread, in Zone 1 — far northern Maine.
He was accompanied by his brother Kade, who was his sub-permittee, his father Derek, his younger brother Kashman and several friends.
Things weren’t looking good after Feeney failed to get a moose Monday and Tuesday. Derek Feeney and some others in the party are lobstermen, which meant they had traps to haul.
However, the forecast of some less-than-ideal weather on the coast enabled the group to stay and hunt Wednesday morning. Gage Feeney shot the moose at 6:43 a.m.
Feeney was the ace pitcher last spring for Washington Academy, which is coached by his dad. He posted an 8-3 record and allowed only four earned runs all season to help the Raiders go 16-4 and win the Class C state championship.
“I have a pretty high ceiling, I feel like, just because I haven’t really had that much coaching and training,” said Feeney, who credited his father with fostering is baseball development.
Feeney went on to pitch for the Trenton Acadians Zone 1 American Legion team, his first summer at that level, and was a first-team all-star. He went 2-0 with a 0.00 earned run average, giving up 16 hits
with 29 strikeouts in 29 innings.
“Gage is a team guy. He’s a competitor and will do whatever I ask of him,” said Trenton manager Tim Archambault.
“With professional training at UMaine, his body has a lot of upside in terms of strength and conditioning, thus potential velocity,” he added.
Feeney still plans to play his senior basketball season at WA, then will gear up to help the Raiders chase a second straight baseball state title.
He realizes that he has a lot of work to do to make the jump to Division I baseball and hopes eventually to earn some athletic scholarship money.
“Having the chance to make the team and facing the challenge of getting better and better is what I wanted to do,” said Feeney, who throws a fastball, a slider, an overhand curveball and a changeup.
“The biggest thing is getting on a training program to work on the right muscles and the right movements to help your [pitching] mechanics,” Feeney explained. “On top of that, mixing pitches, I’ll probably work more on my changeup.”