Righthander Mark Ballard, the ace of the University of Maine’s pitching staff this past year and a 23rd-round draft choice of the Boston Red Sox, will be back at Maine in the fall.

Ballard, the North Atlantic Conference’s Pitcher of the Year, suffers from tendinitis and has been advised by Boston Red Sox team doctor Dr. Arthur Pappas to rest his arm this summer.

Ballard had been told earlier by Red Sox officials that they weren’t going to attempt to sign him until they had seen him pitch this summer.

That won’t happen.

“I’m definitely coming back to Maine,” said Ballard, who finished the season with an 8-3 record, a 2.67 earned run average, and 95 strikeouts in 91 innings. “I’m not going to rush my arm for them. I’m going to rest it, do the rehabilitation exercises Dr. Pappas gave me, and do a little light throwing.”

Ballard, who will be a senior, has been told that he should have a complete recovery, and he feels he can have an even better year next season.

“If I do what I think I can next year, I should get drafted a lot higher,” said Ballard.

He is a little disappointed that things didn’t work out with the Red Sox, but Ballard said, “The thought of what can happen next year makes it worthwhile.”

Ballard intends to return to Maine in better shape than he was a year ago and intends to be a smarter pitcher.

“I know what I can and can’t do,” said Ballard. “I will definitely be in better condition. I don’t want something like this to happen again.”

He intends to work more on developing a split-fingered pitch in the fall to go with his fastball, curve, and changeup.

He also anticipates taking a leadership role for a team that will be young and inexperienced.

“I think there will be better team chemistry next year,” he said.

Old Town’s Gary Thorne, one of the ESPN major league baseball play-by-play men, admits that he is an “old line baseball person.” So the decision to expand the playoff format to eight teams, four in each league, doesn’t sit well with him.

He isn’t a big fan of interleague play, either. And that proposal is receiving serious consideration.

But Thorne said increasing the number of teams in the playoffs and having interleague play are necessary for the sport.

“There’s no question expanding the playoff field will dilute the meaning of the regular season,” said Thorne. “So I hate to see that happen. But from a business perspective, what people want is playoff games.

“That’s where the money is in the NHL and the NBA,” added Thorne. “That’s what packs the arenas. The regular season in baseball is so long now, the regular-season games don’t have much meaning to the fans any more. Fans wait and get excited about the playoffs. The owners are right in expanding the playoffs because they need to generate more interest and more income.”

Interleague play hasn’t been approved yet, but Thorne expects it to become a reality.

“It fits in with the playoff expansion,” said Thorne. “It will generate more interest, and baseball needs it. Baseball is hurting in terms of overall interest. So you’ve got to look for something different.”

Thorne pointed out that the new TV contract with Major League Baseball is for far less money than the previous one and players’ contracts continue to escalate.

“The owners are caught in this vicious cycle of having to chase down more money,” said Thorne. “I don’t like interleague play because I feel the uniqueness of the World Series is positive for baseball. But, at least in the short run, having series like the Mets against the Yankees will definitely generate interest.”

As for the current season, Thorne said he expects pennant races in all four divisions, even though the San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies have large leads in the National League West and East, respectively.

“Nothing is sewn up,” said Thorne. “I don’t think leads mean what they used to. Teams like the Phillies and the Giants have holes, and it wouldn’t take much, just one key injury, and the race is wide-open again. There is a ton of parity. A seven- or eight-game lead used to be insurmountable. Not any more.”