BREWER, Maine — The University of Maine coaching staff undoubtedly liked what it saw of Brewer’s Matt Pushard late in the recently completed high school baseball season.
And who wouldn’t?
The junior right-hander merely pitched a no-hitter against Mt. Blue of Farmington in the Eastern Maine Class A semifinals, then came back four nights later with a complete-game three-hitter in a 1-0 loss to Bangor in the regional championship game.
In the aftermath of those two performances at the end of a stellar junior season with the Witches, the 6-foot-5 Pushard on Friday accepted a partial athletic scholarship offer from the UMaine baseball program while verbally committing to join coach Steve Trimper’s Black Bears beginning in the fall of 2016.
“I remember when I was a little kid, 9 or 10 years old playing all-stars, my dad and I went up and watched a couple of games.” said Pushard. “I always told him that I wanted to play there some day. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because I’ve always wanted to play up there.”
Interest in Pushard by the UMaine coaching staff had picked up in recent weeks. He was seen talking to Black Bears’ pitching coach J.P. Pyne after the Eastern Maine championship game — in which he dueled Bangor left-hander Trevor DeLaite, another junior who has committed to play baseball at Maine.
That meeting led to Pushard’s trip to the Orono campus Friday.
“I went up today to talk to coach Trimper and the coaching staff, and when I went in, I told them I was going to come up there next year after I graduate,” said Pushard.
Pushard, a pitcher-first baseman, earned first-team All-Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A honors this spring for 14-5 Brewer, in large part because of his pitching performance but also as a power-hitting presence who batted third in the lineup for coach Dana Corey’s club.
The 17-year-old Pushard, who has been a pitcher since his Little League days, said he made marked improvement on the mound this spring with a repertoire that included a fastball, curve, changeup and knuckleball.
“I would say probably 100 percent,” said Pushard, whose father, Phil, is an assistant coach at Brewer. “I’ve had a lot of help with coach [Dennis] Kiah and coach Corey, mostly coach Kiah helping me with my mechanics.
“I feel a lot better after my junior year than after my sophomore year because I’m able to have better command of my pitches, I can locate certain pitches where I want them,” he said.
Pushard, who is playing American Legion baseball this summer for the Brewer Falcons, also cited the mental part of the game as an area of improvement, particularly in terms of preparation.
“It’s pretty much just getting in that pitching mode before games and being mentally prepared to play,” he said.
Pushard also is coming off a strong junior season of basketball at Brewer, where he earned All-KVAC Class A recognition and Bangor Daily News All-Maine honorable mention status after helping the Witches earn a postseason berth.
“I’ve been contemplating between baseball and basketball a lot,” he said, “but baseball has come more to my heart.
“I feel like I could have a future in it, but I still have a long way to go,” he said.
