Sean Frost, Manchester
Sean Frost, Manchester

Story and photos by Mark Carpenter –

The coaches of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference baseball teams met recently and have announced their choices for the 2016 All-SHAC Baseball Squad. Nineteen young men earned All-SHAC recognition and five of those were from Adams County squads, two from North Adams, and one each from West Union, Manchester, and Peebles.

Two seniors from Coach Rob Meade’s North Adams squad were named to the All-Conference team, Kenny Branch and Trey Meade. Before his season ended with a freak injury, Branch was a force at the plate as well as one of the best defensive backstops in the area. The senior catcher hit .327 for the season with 14 runs batted in.

Meade split his time between the pitcher’s mound and first base and was one of the senior leaders on a 12-11 Green Devils team. The senior drove home 11 runs with a .303 on-base percentage. On the mound, he was 5-3 with an earned run average of 2.25, striking out 65 batters in 46.2 innings of work.

Kenny Branch, North Adams
Kenny Branch, North Adams

Patrolling the wide expanses of center field and earning a nod as an All-SHAC performer was West Union senior Jacob Miley. Miley’s speed in the outfield and on the base paths was a key to the Dragons as he appeared in all 22 of the team’s 2016 contests. Miley scored 10 runs, drew 14 walks, and stole 12 bases on the year.

A perennial name on the All-SHAC lists appears again in Manchester senior Sean Frost. Frost had an outstanding senior year, especially at the plate where he led the Greyhounds with a .409 batting average and a .500 on-base percentage. Frost drove home 1o runs and scored 14 runs and stole 21 bases in 24 attempts. On the mound, he finished with a 3-4 record for the 6-10 Hounds, fanning 80 hitters in 40.1 innings of work, nearly averaging two strikeouts per inning pitched.

The only underclassman from Adams County to make the 2016 All-SHAC squad was Peebles’ catcher Caleb West. West hit a blistering .452 this spring for the Indians, scoring 21 runs and driving home 23 with 10 extra-base hits as Peebles finished with a winning record of 13-9. West also swiped 23 bases and was caught just three times with a .589 slugging percentage.

Caleb West, Peebles
Caleb West, Peebles

The remainder of the 2016 All-SHAC baseball squad includes: Jacob Burns, Kyle Marler, and Trever Yeager from Whiteoak; Tay Call, Tim Crone, and Max Iles from Fayetteville; Hunter Dixon and Mitch Rose from Fairfield; Brady Klein from Eastern; Kevin Kirk from Ripley; and Devin Pierson, Morgan Ryan, Wesley Smith, and Kendall Vilvens from Lynchburg-Clay.

The 2016 SHAC Baseball Coach of the Year was Fayetteville’s Tim Carlier.

The All-SHAC teams in baseball, softball, and track were honored in ceremonies on Tuesday, May 31 at Peebles High School.
 

2016 SHAC Baseball Final Standings

Trey Meade, North Adams
Trey Meade, North Adams

Division I (Big School)
Lynchburg 11-2
Eastern 8-5
Peebles 6-7
West Union 4-9
Ripley 1-12
Division II (Small School)
Fayetteville 11-2
Fairfield 10-3
Whiteoak 6-7
North Adams 5-8
Manchester 3-10

 

Jacob Miley, West Union
Jacob Miley, West Union