After coaching Andover to its fourth Central New England Prep Championship in the last seven years, Kevin Graber was named Diamond Sports Region 1 High School Baseball Coach of the Year (for the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, and Connecticut) by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA). The ABCA will present Graber the award in January during this year's ABCA National Convention in Dallas, Texas.
Graber’s 2018 championship team finished the season at 20-2, ranked No. 1 in New England according to the year-end New England Baseball Journal Coaches Poll. Andover capped the season with shutout wins over Worcester Academy and archrival Phillips Exeter in the Central New England Prep Championship Tournament, lowering its team ERA to a school-record 0.94.
In nine seasons as varsity head coach, Graber's teams have produced four Central New England Prep Most Valuable Players, three ABCA/Rawlings All-Region selections, and one NHSBCA All-New England honoree, and 37 of his former players have gone on to play college baseball since 2012, including P.J. Nowak '12 (Michigan State), Curtiss Pomeroy '12 (Georgetown), David McCullough '13 (Yale), Kevin Superko '14 (Georgetown), Chris Hohlstein '14 (Davidson), Tim Salvadore '15 (Virginia Tech), Thomas Lane '15 (Boston College), Jake Nelson '15 (Penn), Matt Hosman '15 (UMass Amherst), Richie Ciufo '16 (Brown), Nick Latham '16 (Boston College), John Simourian '16 (Georgetown), Matthew Cerfolio '17 (Columbia), Rob Cerulle '17 (Penn), Taylor Beckett '17 (Princeton), Henry Ennen '17 (Northeastern), Travis Lane '18 (Boston College), Joe Simourian '18 (Navy), and Anthony Redfern '18 (Georgetown). During that time, Nelson was drafted by the Detroit Tigers, and Pomeroy was drafted by the Atlanta Braves and signed the following year with the New York Yankees.