His team won the division title, the divisional playoffs and the South Atlantic League Championship. He finished his second professional season throwing 21 consecutive shutout innings, his fastball topping out around 97 miles per hour.

He did not allow an earned run in two playoff starts, surrendered just three earned runs over his final 36 innings, and finished 4-1 with a 2.56 earned run average and 95 strikeouts.

But 2008 Kelso graduate Trevor May insists he can do better.

“One problem I had was that I threw a lot of pitches, pretty much every outing,” said May, who this summer pitched for the Lakewood BlueClaws, a long-season Class A minor league affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. “I went pretty deep in pitch counts. If I had to choose something I need to improve on, that would be it.”

The BlueClaws won the best-of-five South Atlantic League playoff series 3-1 against Greenville, S.C., wrapping up the title on Sept. 18. May packed his things and made the 42-hour drive from Lakewood, N.J., to his parents’ home in Kelso with one stopover — an overnight stay in Omaha, Neb.

“I saw Rosenblatt (Stadium, host venue for the College World Series), passed out in a hotel, then kept driving,” May said. “I’m actually pretty tired.”

May arrived in Kelso last Tuesday, but his offseason hasn’t arrived just yet. He headed to the Phillies’ spring training facility in Clearwater, Fla., and will be there for another week, pitching in instructional league scrimmages.

Then May will come home and rest up for spring training, which starts in March. The Phillies will evaluate May’s performance there, as well as his stellar work for the BlueClaws, before giving him his next assignment.

“If I were to guess, and every indication I have so far, I’m probably going to move up a level to advanced A,” said May. “I’m not sure yet.”

May was drafted on June 5, 2008 by the Phillies in the fourth round of the Major League Baseball Draft, the 136th overall pick. He signed with Philadelphia on July 9 and spent his first season pitching for the Phillies’ rookie team in the Gulf Coast League.

With the BlueClaws, May made big strides with his velocity, command and approach. He attributed those gains to mechanical adjustments.

“I was always so jerky in my delivery,” he said. “I had no idea. I get down here and they showed me all kinds of stuff. I shortened my stride and cleaned a few other things up, and I feel like I got a few things to click. Once my control came, I started throwing a little harder.”

In his final outing of the season, Game 3 of the championship series, May’s fastball was clocked between 97-101 mph, which made him chuckle in disbelief.

“Beefed-up gun,” he said.

On average, May added, his fastball hovers around 93 or 94, and holding that velocity is more important to him — and more crucial to his success and advancement — than the occasional other-worldly gasser.

“My maximum wasn’t a huge increase. But overall, I’m throwing more pitches harder,” May said. “I’ve started throwing a change-up that I’d never thrown before, and I used it more than my curveball this season.”

May said as he fine-tuned the release-point on his change-up, he was able to locate his fastball with more precision.

“Once I started throwing my change-up for strikes, I got the fastball back on track,” he said.

May said the change was the first off-speed pitch he learned — back in Little League. But his curveball “turned out pretty good,” so he packed the change-up away.

The quality of opposition in the South Atlantic League forced him to dust it off.

“In (rookie league), you are facing a lot of high school guys,” May said. “It’s like playing in a high school all-star game. It’s more of a fastball-fastball-offspeed sequence. Now, I have to read batters. I have to read their hands, where they stand in the box. I have to judge where they might like to hit the ball based on their warm-up swings. You see guys six times a year, so you have to have a plan.”

May’s high pitch counts aren’t the result of control problems. He walked three or fewer batters in eight of his final 10 regular-season starts. His pitch counts will come down as he embraces the virtues of pitching to contact.

“That’s a huge thing for me, to stop trying to strike everyone out,” May said. “It’s still in the back of my mind, ‘I can’t let ’em hit it.’ But I can. It’s not the end of the world. My teammates joked about how I take forever when I’m pitching, how I didn’t get outs quickly. They joked that I was always making someone late for a plane. I’d get ahead 1-2, waste a pitch in the dirt and they’d take it, waste another, they wouldn’t chase it, then I’m 3-2. Then they foul off a few pitches.

“Mechanics-wise, I’m fine,” he added. “I just need to pitch to contact more. It’s that little hump I need to get over.”

Life on the road, away from the West Coast, can be draining, May said. He has friends on the team, “but I’m with them all the time and not with my friends back home,” May said.

“But it’s well worth it. We made the playoffs and that is what you play for,” he added. “Getting there and then winning was awesome.”

May typically pitched in front of crowds that ranged from 2,000 to 4,000, and started a July 3 contest in front of 10,000.

“They were probably more excited for the fireworks after the game, but it’s awesome to have fans,” he said.

May also got to meet Pedro Martinez, who worked out with the BlueClaws in early August while preparing to pitch for the Phillies. He also learned Brett Myers’ curveball while Myers was doing rehab work.

“I shook (Martinez’s) hand and talked to him a little bit,” May said. “Myers showed me some stuff about where to put finger pressure on the laces. I’m still throwing my curveball, but I took a little bit from his. He does have a very good curveball.”