UTICA — The Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League announced the selection of Mickey Fauvelle as the 2019 PGCBL Coach of the Year on Tuesday.
Fauvelle, the head coach of the Adirondack Trail Blazers, was selected as the Coach of the Year via a vote of his peers, and is the first Adirondack coach to win the league’s highest coaching honor.
Fauvelle just completed his second season as the head coach of the Trail Blazers, joining the franchise before the 2018 season. He brought a wealth of experience to the bench in Boonville, and immediately elevated the level of play for the Blazers. In his first two seasons with the team, Fauvelle won 38 regular season games, an increase on the 29 Adirondack had won in the 2016 and 2017 seasons combined.
During the 2019 season, Fauvelle guided the Trail Blazers to nineteen regular season wins, which was enough to send Adirondack to the PGCBL Playoffs for the first time ever. Adirondack finished in fourth place in the West Division, which set up a first round meeting with the top-seeded Utica Blue Sox. Fauvelle’s Blazers then sprung one of the biggest upsets in league history, as Adirondack rolled past the 30-win Blue Sox, 10-4, to advance to the West Division Championship Series.
Despite a depleted roster that had been cut to just 15 players, Adirondack kept rolling against the second-seeded Geneva Red Wings in the West Division Championship Series. Fauvelle’s bunch scored 26 runs over two games to sweep the Red Wings, and give the Trail Blazers their first ever PGCBL West Division pennant. Despite falling in two games to the Amsterdam Mohawks in the PGCBL Championship Series, the postseason run for Adirondack remained one of the most memorable in league history.
Under the direction of Fauvelle, Adirondack saw five players named to the PGCBL All-Star Game in Saugerties, and three players named All-PGCBL. Three of the top seven hitters in the league by average — Kevin Ferrer (UConn), Chris Rotondo (Villanova), and Andy Hague (UConn) — wore the Adirondack uniform, while two of the two six pitchers by earned run average — Ryan Solimine (Mitchell) and Steven Miller (Penn State) — pitched in Boonville. As a team, Adirondack ranked third in the league in batting average and second in the PGCBL in fielding percentage.
The PGCBL Pitcher of the Year will be announced today and the Player of the Year will be announced Thursday.
PGCBL Coach of the Year Winners
2011: Eric Coleman, Cooperstown
2012: Keith Griffin, Amsterdam
2013: Nick Davey, Albany
2014: Mike Armstrong, Newark
2015: Dan Shwam, Victor
2016: Blake Nation, Mohawk Valley
2017: Anthony Barone, Jamestown
2018: Anthony Barone, Jamestown
2019: Mickey Fauvelle, Adirondack
