Local baseball fans will have perhaps their last chance to check out pitching phenom Mark Rogers when Mt. Ararat plays its regular season finale Friday at Leavitt High School.

Rogers, who already has been offered a full baseball scholarship at the University of Miami (Florida), has drawn dozens of scouts to his previous four starts this season. As many as 30 scouts and front office personnel, including general managers from the Philadelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds, checked out his last start at Lawrence on May 14.

Rogers, a right-hander, struck out 22 batters in nine innings of work at Lawrence.

“I felt bad, because once it was evident that he wasn’t going to come back out to pitch after the ninth, they all got in their cars and left,” said Craig Rogers, Mark’s father and Mt. Ararat’s coach.

Rogers doesn’t expect the same throng in Turner on Friday.

“There probably won’t be as many scouts at this game because a lot of them take off Friday for their spring draft meetings,” he said. “We expect a dozen or so.”

The win over Lawrence was Rogers’ third game this season with at least 20 strikeouts. He also had 20-K games against Skowhegan and Morse. He struck out nine in five innings against Edward Little earlier this season as well.

Overall, Rogers is 3-0 with one no decision. He’s yielded no runs and three hits in 28 innings while fanning 71 and walking eight. Opposing hitters are batting a microscopic .035 (3-for-86) against him. He’s already been named Gatorade’s Maine High School Player of the year for the second straight year.

Baseball America ranks Rogers 13th in the nation among this year’s crop of draft prospects.

Some baseball publications have him being selected in the top 10 in the Major League Baseball amateur draft, which will be held June 7.

“We’re hoping something in the top couple or three rounds,” Craig Rogers said, “and anything below that, Mark is going to consider it. Miami’s not a bad second option, though.”

KVAC playoffs

Rogers will lead Mt. Ararat into the KVAC playoffs as the top seed. The Eagles will host No. 4 Gardiner in the semifinals, while No. 2 Oxford Hills hosts No. 3 Cony. Both semifinals will be played Tuesday, May 25, with the winners advancing to the championship game on Thursday, May 27, at the higher seed.