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Valley pro Everidge named independent Atlantic League MVP starring for Lancaster

In a recent three-day span, Glen Ellen’s Tommy Everidge was the recipient of two major honors for his excellence in both college and professional baseball.

Everidge, a 2001 Sonoma Valley High School graduate and former Dragon star prep player, was inducted into the Sonoma State University Athletics Hall of Fame on Saturday, Oct. 8, and two days later, on Monday, Oct. 10, he was named the Atlantic League’s Player of the Year as a member of pro-baseball’s independent league Lancaster (Pa.) Barnstormers.

Dedicated to returning to the Major Leagues, where he played for the Oakland A’s, who originally drafted him in the 10th round of the 2004 draft, as well as in the Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros organizations, Everidge signed on with the Lancaster Barnstormers before the recent season and took the Atlantic League by “storm” as an offensive force.

Along with his standout defensive play at first-base, Everidge parlayed a monster August, in which he was the league’s player of the month after hitting for a .394 average, with 36 RBIs in 27 games, into an outstanding season that led to his most valuable player award.

Everidge, who played in all 125 games for Lancaster, earned his honor as the 2011 Atlantic League Player of the Year by leading the league with 28 home runs, 41 doubles, 160 hits and 285 total bases, as well as finishing a close second in runs scored and RBIs, while ending up the sixth-best batting average at .319. He also set a new league record with 69 extra-base hits and was the Barnstormers’ first-ever outright MVP.

“If you put all the numbers together, nobody was more deserving than Tommy,” said Lancaster manager and former major-leaguer Butch Hobson. “He’s a workaholic who comes to play every day. This award is only fitting.”

Before reaching the pros, Everidge was an all-league, All-Empire force for his high school Dragons, and then became a collegiate All-American at Sonoma State University, which led to his inductions into both school’s athletic halls of fame.

Playing for SSU in the early 2000s, Everidge was first named freshman of the year in 2002, then went on to be a three-time all-conference selection and earn second-team All-American honors in 2004, finishing his illustrious career for the Seawolves ranked second all-time in runs scored (158), hits (213), doubles (43), home runs (32), RBIs (153) and walks (91).

Everidge was then drafted by Oakland in 2004 and rose up the ranks to play for the A’s in 2009.