BURLINGTON, VT — The Vermont Lake Monsters would like to congratulate catcher Ethan Anderson on being named the Tom Racine MVP award winner in voting done online and in the ballpark by Lake Monsters fans, the team announced Friday in a ceremony before the regular-season finale.

In addition, pitcher Wyatt Cameron (Salisbury, VT) was selected by fans as the winner of the inaugural George Commo Award. The award, which was created this season for fans to pick the top player from the state of Vermont, is named after the longtime voice of not just the Lake Monsters, but college and high school sports throughout the state for the past five decades.

Anderson, who left the team earlier this week to being his freshman year at the University of Virginia, is currently tied for second-place in the Futures League with five home runs and was fifth with 32 RBI despite playing in just 29 games for the Lake Monsters this season.

The 17-year-old from Virginia Beach, Virginia also hit .427 (41-for-96) with 25 runs and eight doubled in those 29 games, finishing with an on-base percentage of .522 and slugging percentage of .667 (1.188 OPS). He reached base safely by hit or walk in his last 25 games started, including a 17-game hitting streak (July 21-August 9), going 32-for-62 (.516) with 19 runs and 27 RBI.

Anderson joins past winners of the Racine Award, named after Vermont’s first General Manager, like Major Leaguers Seth Brown ‘15 and Eli White ‘16 who played for the Lake Monsters when they were a New York-Penn League affiliate of the Oakland Athletics.

Cameron, who pitched at Middlebury High School and is currently pitching at New England College, is 2-0 with five saves and a 1.95 ERA for Vermont this season. He leads the FCBL in games pitched (26), allowing 15 runs (8 earned) with 12 walks and 28 strikeouts over 37 innings. Over his last 17 outings, he allowed just two earned runs over 18 innings and all five of his saves have come since July 26th.

The Lake Monsters conclude the 2021 regular-season Friday night and will begin the FCBL playoffs 6:05pm Saturday at Centennial Field when they host game one of a best-of-three semifinal series.