ORONO, Maine -- Larry Thomas remembers the first day he debuted in front of University of Maine baseball coaches John Winkin and Bob Whalen.
The left-hander, pitching for Winthrop (Massachusetts) High School, was locked up in a duel against the ace from Salem High.
"Coach Winkin and coach Whalen were there to look at the kid I was facing and I ended up beating him 1-0," Thomas recalled.
The performance earned Thomas an invitation to UMaine's summer baseball camp and opened the door for him to sign to play for the Black Bears.
"I was just honored that they were recruiting me," said Thomas, whose subsequent efforts earned him a spot among UMaine's elite as a member of the UMaine Sports Hall of Fame.
Thomas enjoyed three outstanding seasons at UMaine. He departed Orono with an All-America honor, two school records and a ticket to professional baseball.
"We played like we had a chip on our shoulder. We felt like we could beat anybody," Thomas said.
Utilizing a lively fastball and a devastating slider, he was a dominating force on a deep and talented staff for what is still the winningest team in program history.
"He was really good at being able to execute both his fastball and his slider and he could throw both of those pitches any time that he wanted to," said former UMaine pitching coach Jay Kemble. "He just knew how to win."
Thomas, who compiled a 17-5 career record with a 3.18 earned run average, had a memorable junior season in 1991. The Black Bears went 48-18 and hosted the NCAA Northeast Regional.
Thomas, coming off an all-star performance in the Cape Cod League the previous summer, went 9-4 with a 2.54 ERA and racked up a school-record 108 strikeouts, with only 26 walks, in 99 1/3 innings.
Thomas, one of seven players to make 15 starts in a season, was named the North Atlantic Conference Pitcher of the Year and claimed a spot on the All-New England Team.
"Coach Winkin and coach [Mike] Coutts and coach Kemble, they gave me the opportunities to have success and what I did with them was up to me and how I approached it," Thomas said. "They taught us work ethic."
His single-season strikeouts mark was eclipsed by Nick Sinacola (129) in 2021.
Kemble said Thomas was a strong, versatile athlete who worked hard and continued to improve.
"Larry's athleticism really stuck out to me, but he also wanted the ball in big situations," Kemble said. "He was really competitive on the mound."
The UMaine experience involved much more than baseball for Thomas. The players' collective commitment to play together, and for each other, led to on-field success and lasting friendships.
"I had great experiences, made great friendships and had great tutoring," Thomas said. "I couldn't ask for anything better."
Career highlights for the Miami native included pitching 8 2/3 innings with 12 strikeouts in a 2-1 loss (two unearned runs) to nationally ranked Miami in 1991, then beating Northeastern and Villanova that postseason.
"The one thing that coach Winkin let us do was he would let us be our own person," Thomas said. "I was a fiery redhead, pitched with a lot of emotion and was very determined when I was on the mound."
The Chicago White Sox selected Thomas in the second round, 69th overall, in the 1991 Major League draft. He received the call just after playing in the New England collegiate all-star game at Fenway Park in Boston.
He appeared in 79 games over three seasons for Chicago, all in relief, posting a 2-3 record with a 3.02 ERA. He made his big league debut with a scoreless inning against Oakland on Aug. 11, 1995. Thomas, who played eight seasons of pro ball, said one of his greatest thrills was pitching against the Red Sox at Fenway.
"I grew up in Boston and we used to skip school in high school to go watch the day games," he said, contrasting that to playing there. "When you're looking from the inside out, it's a different feeling, like, you made it."
Thomas also faced fellow UMaine Hall of Famer Mike Bordick, a longtime major league infielder, who was then with Oakland.
"My experience in pro ball, and then the big leagues, was numbing," Thomas said. "But it was fun and it helped me be a coach, too."
Thomas, who finished his undergraduate studies at Mississippi State and earned a Master's degree from the University of West Alabama. He remains connected to the UMaine program.
He is entering his eighth season as the head coach at Central Alabama Community College. Thomas met his wife, Alicia, when her father, Rick Patterson, was coaching him at Class A Sarasota in 1992.
Larry and Alicia have three adult children, sons Toby and Liam, and daughter Olivia.
The 2024 UMaine Sports Hall of Fame class will be officially inducted at a banquet held at Jeff's Catering on Friday, Oct. 4. For more details on this year's induction class, please click here.
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