Through hard work and determination, the Monmouth pitcher has become one of the most impressive players in the league.
By Randy Whitehouse
Staff Writer

WALES – Some athletes can knock a coach’s socks off the first time they lay eyes on them.

Mike Daggett wasn’t one of those kids.

Oak Hill baseball coach Bill Fairchild remembers seeing Daggett at one of the school’s baseball clinics when he was 10 or 11 years old.

“He was nothing that turned your head,” Fairchild said. “He was a nice kid, kind of gangly. But through his work ethic, he has become a very good ballplayer. He’s made himself into one of the premier ballplayers in our league.”

Daggett has impressed his coach off the field as much as on, which is saying something considering that for the better part of his four-year baseball career at Oak Hill, Daggett has been Fairchild’s go-to-guy anytime he’s needed a clutch pitching effort.

Through tireless work in the off-season, including regular sessions at Frozen Ropes (formerly Four Seasons) and workouts with school coaches and athletic trainers, Daggett has become one of the top seniors in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference and is a big reason the Raiders will be one of the league favorites when they open their season Wednesday.

After posting a deceptive 5-4 record as a junior, Daggett spent this past fall and winter refining his pitching repetoire. And the result could be devestating to hitters who dig into the batter’s box against him.

“I worked on my two-seam fastball,” he said. “Last year and the years before I usually used my four-seamer, but my two-seamer seems to be working a lot better. It rides right up on the right-handers.”

As if that’s not enough for right-handed hitters to chew on, the 6-3 righty will be giving them a different look from the hill on occasion.

“I’ve started throwing some sidearm,” he added.

“One of the things we’ve tried to do with Dags is make him just a little bit meaner ballplayer,” Fairchild said. “This year, he is going to come inside more. And when he drops down (to the side), I tell you, he really lets it go. He gains a couple of miles an hour and he’s got unbelievable movement.”

Not to mention enviable control of that movement. Daggett walked just six batters last year while striking out 68 in 56 innings pitched.

Such impressive numbers leaves one to wonder how he could have finished just one game over .500, especially on a team that went 14-5 and made it to the Western B semifinals before losing to Gray-New Gloucester.

But as Fairchild points out, anytime the Raiders faced one of the top dogs in the KVAC, Daggett got the ball. That, combined with a lack of run support, kept him from a better win-loss record.

That should change this year. With Rick Leavitt, Adam Labbe and Pat Duchette available for mound duty, the Raiders have their deepest pitching staff in years, according to Fairchild.

“He won’t have to carry the heavy load. He’s had to pitch every tough game for us. This year, he’s in a rotation and every once in a while, he’ll get a second-tier team,” Fairchild said.

“He’s always had to play for a young and inexperienced squad, and this year he won’t have to,” Fairchild said. “I think he wants to go beyond what we did last year. He would like very much to win a state championship and he deserves it.”

Daggett and catcher Chris Behne are the only seniors on this year’s roster. But the core of the team consists of juniors who logged a lot of playing time last year.

“It’s a lot of fun playing with a lot of juniors with so much experience,” Daggett said. “It’s just like having a bunch of seniors. We’re just having fun. I don’t feel any pressure at all, actually.”

Actually, Daggett is putting more pressure on himself as the team’s clean-up hitter than as it’s mound ace.

“I’d like to hit a couple of more home runs this year. I only had two last year,” said Daggett, who hit .339 last season. “Hopefully I can improve on that.”

“All he has to do is make contact. The power will come,” Fairchild said. “He’s got a good stroke. He’s 6-3 and 220 pounds, so when he makes contact, the ball’s going to go. I don’t thinks there’s any fence that’s going to hold him.”

If the fences in the KVAC can’t hold him, maybe the ones at Endicott College, where he plans to enroll in the fall and play baseball while studying sports management or athletic training, can keep him in the ballpark.

Wherever Daggett goes when he takes the Raiders’ jersey off for good, the kid who didn’t make much of a first impression will have left a more lasting final impression on his coach.

“I’ve been coaching for quite awhile now and you see kids with good character come along, but he’s the whole package,” Fairchild said. “He’s as good a kid as I’ve seen come through here, athlete or not.”

“You talk about a battler. You want him watching your back. You never have to turn around to see if he’s got you covered.”

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