Midway senior Todd Glaesmann has a long way to go in the game of baseball.

So it’s good that he seems to be enjoying the ride.

Glaesmann, the 2008 Super Centex Player of the Year, spent much of last summer playing in showcase games that pitted the top high school prospects in the nation against each other.

He’s had eyes of scouts — both college and pro — on him for most if not all of the last two seasons.

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• List: The 2009 Super Centex Baseball Team

Midway senior Todd Glaesmann, a third-round draft pick by the Tampa Bay Rays, swung his way to a second straight selection as the Super Centex Player of the Year. (Jerry Larson photo)

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He’s become accustomed to the glare of the spotlight.

“I just tried to be a calm as possible,” Glaesmann said. “If they notice that you’re calm on the field and having a good time, then they know they can teach you how to play the game.”

Though Glaesmann seems to have picked up a thing or two to this point.

In the last two seasons, he’s hit 20 home runs and driven in 93 to power the Panthers’ offense.

As a senior this spring, he batted .392 with 38 hits, six doubles, four triples and nine homers. He drove in 37 runs and scored 45 to earn District 16-4A Offensive Player of the Year.

For that, Glaesmann has earned Super Centex Player of the Year for the second straight season. He becomes the third player to achieve that double dip and the second from Midway.

Glaesmann follows former Midway standout left-handed pitcher Casey Fossum, who was the Super Centex Player of the Year in 1995 and 1996, as back-to-back winners of the top Super Centex baseball honor. And like Fossum, Glaesmann signed with Texas A&M during his senior year.

But unlike Fossum, Glaesmann may never wear Aggie maroon and white.

Earlier this month, the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Glaesmann was selected in the third round of the Major League Baseball draft by the Tampa Bay Rays. Fossum, a seventh-round pick by the Arizona Diamondbacks out of high school, elected to go to Texas A&M and pitched there for three seasons before going to the Boston Red Sox in the first round of the 1999 draft.

Glaesmann said he’s not sure which route he’ll travel, and it could take a few weeks to sort out.

While the future is partly cloudy, Glaesmann certainly enjoyed plenty of days in the sun at Midway.

He helped the Panthers reach the Class 4A Region II final in 2008 as Midway came painfully close to reaching the state tournament before falling to Waxahachie. Then, as a senior, Glaesmann and Midway exacted some revenge on Waxahachie by sweeping the Indians in 16-4A play to claim the district title.

“I think people had doubts about how good we were going to be,” Glaesmann said. “And I think we showed that Midway baseball is always going to be there.”

Glaesmann claimed his place in Midway’s baseball tradition as a big, fast outfielder with the speed to go get the baseball, then turn around and knock it out of the park.

But he brought more to the Panthers than just physical ability.

“The first thing everybody likes is he’s 6-4 and can run,” Midway coach Tom Gladney said. “But he’s also a great leader on and off the field. He’s a great kid in the classroom and on our campus.”

Glaesmann beat out a group of worthy Player of the Year candidates including Meridian’s Bradley Hardcastle, who posted astounding numbers with a .791 batting average and 57 RBIs; Robinson shortstop and pitcher Boone Weiss, who batted .522, drove in 31 runs, stole 27 bases and won four games on the mound for the Rockets; and Clifton ace Danny Horstman, who went 10-2 for the Cubs with 112 strikeouts and a 1.47 earned-run average.

Coach of the Year: Ben Basden, Vanguard

As an assistant the last three seasons at Vanguard, Ben Basden knew the Vikings had some good pieces with which to build a solid baseball team this spring.

As it turned out, Basden got the chance to put them together.

Basden took over as Vanguard’s head coach this season and led the Vikings to their first-ever berth in the TAPPS state baseball tournament.

The trick, he said, was to convince the Vikings of the ability they already had.

“One thing I tried to do was change the mentality a little bit,” Basden said. “It was taking a team that wasn’t used to success and getting them to where they expect that out of themselves.”

In doing so, he earned the Super Centex Coach of the Year award.

Basden’s tool kit at Vanguard this season included seven seniors. One of them, pitcher/catcher Michael Clark, distinguished himself as a Super Centex first-teamer by earning the win on the mound for both of the Vikings’ playoff victories.

But it took more than one good arm for Vanguard to claim a piece of its district championship and constantly fight its way back in the playoffs.

The Vikings fell behind in both rounds leading up to the state tournament, but they never panicked.

“Our first game against Amarillo San Jacinto, we had a rough first inning, but we had to rally to come back for that,” Basden said. “Same thing against Pantego. At no point in those games did I feel that we were out of it. I’d seen us do it earlier in the year.”

Basden, himself a 2000 graduate of Vanguard, invested himself in turning the program around and believes the program can continue to excel.

“I talked to the returning guys and told them there’s no reason we can’t do this every year,” Basden said. “We’ve got Vanguard baseball back to where it needs to be. I want these guys that are returning to help establish that bar, always be in the playoffs and always make a run at the state tournament year in and year out.”

Newcomer of the Year: Kolbey Carpenter, West

As far as the West baseball team soared in the playoffs this spring — the Trojans reached the 3A Region I semifinals before falling to Brownwood — there could be even better times directly ahead.

In fact, Trojans coach Cory Beckham said he’s wishing next season started immediately.

That’s because West freshman Kolbey Carpenter made a huge impact in his first varsity season.

Carpenter posted a 9-4 record on the mound with 100 strikeouts and a 2.37 ERA on the mound. At the plate, he batted .382 with eight doubles, six triples and four home runs.

In the process, he earned the Super Centex Newcomer of the Year honor.

“He’s got some unique qualities as far a being a young guy,” Beckham said. “He kind of took on a leadership role because of the way he performed. To know that you’re going to have that for three more years, you’re ready to start the next year already.”

Carpenter edged out a great class of newcomers, including Lorena freshman Justin Walton, who went 5-0 on the mound with a 2.02 ERA; Meridian freshman Justin Guerrero, who batted .576 with 24 RBIs and went 3-1 on the mound; and Midway sophomore Matthew Kent, who went 5-0 on the mound with a 0.58 ERA and batted .365 with 27 runs and 20 RBIs.

cconine@wacotrib.com

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2009 Super Centex Baseball Team

Player of the Year: Todd Glaesmann, Midway

Newcomer of the Year: Kolbey Carpenter, West

Coach of the Year: Ben Basden, Vanguard