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South Portland senior Andrew Heffernan was named Friday as Maine’s 2023 Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year. The award recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field.
Heffernan, a pitching ace and third baseman, was 4-2 on the mound this spring with a minuscule 0.28 earned run average. He also had a save. Heffernan struck out 72 batters in 51 innings while issuing just four walks. He allowed just 25 hits and two earned runs. He also hit .418 with 13 RBI and 15 runs scored, posting a 1.059 OPS, and stealing 10 bases. He entered the season as the reigning Southwestern Maine Athletic Association’s Pitcher of the Year and was named South Portland’s 2022 Spring Athlete of the Year by The Forecaster.
““I think Heffernan is the perfect pick,” said Marshwood coach Eric Wells. “He’s the ultimate competitor and leader. I’ve obviously only watched him from the opposite dugout, but he plays the game the way it was meant to be played and his game is as good as anyone I’ve seen in high school.”
Heffernan, who has also been part of back-to-back boys’ basketball state championship teams, has volunteered with the South Portland Challenger League, an adaptive program for individuals with physical and developmental challenges. He has also participated in SoPo Unite, a group for students at South Portland High School that promotes no drug or alcohol use for all teens. Heffernan has maintained an A average in the classroom and has signed a National Letter of Intent to play baseball on scholarship at Merrimack College in Andover, Massachusetts.
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