By Mark Carpenter-
As is the annual tradition, the baseball coaches of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference met in mid-May to nominate their athletes and then cast their votes for the 2019 All-Conference Baseball Team. Nineteen young men from the 10 SHAC schools were recognized with All-Conference recognition, with six of those coming from the high schools in Adams County, two each from Manchester, West Union, and North Adams.
A young an up and coming Manchester Greyhound squad, under the guidance of Coach Dustin Cook, finished the spring with a 10-13 record and placed two players on the All-SHAC squad, sophomore Kyle Reaves and senior Jacob Calvert.
Reaves had one of the more outstanding seasons in Manchester baseball history at the plate, hitting .583, 42 hits in 72 at-bats. The sophomore also had 11 extra-base hits and drove home 23 runs, while crossing the plate 22 times himself, with a .736 slugging percentage. Spending most of his time as the Greyhounds’ catcher, Reaves put together a .975 fielding percentage.
In his senior campaign, Calvert rapped out 17 hits in 44 at-bats for a .386 average, usually in the lineup as the Hounds’ designated hitter. Calvert banged out seven doubles and drove in 11 runs, striking out just eight times.
Coach Joe Kramer’s West Union Dragons finished with a 12-11 overall record and placed a pair of players on the All-SHAC Team, senior Brandan Cornell and junior Alex Hirsch.
Cornell, who was also named the SHAC Baseball Player of the Year by the coaches, finished up his outstanding high school career on the mound with a 3-5 senior season, posting a 1.99 earned run average, striking out 37 batters in 45 innings pitched. At the plate, Cornell hit .443 with a team-high three home runs as part of 17 extra-base hits out of his 35 total hits. Cornell also led the Dragons with 31 runs batted in.
Hirsch closed out his junior season with a .386 batting average with 12 extra-base hits, scoring 27 runs while driving home 22, striking out just six times in 90 plate appearances. Hirsch also was the #2 man on the Dragons’ pitching staff, posting a 4-1 record with a 3.02 earned run average, 30 strikeouts in 44 innings of work.
Coach Rob Meade and the North Adams Green Devils ended the spring with an impressive 18-7 record and also placed two players on the All-SHAC Team, senior Elijah Young and junior Zach Osborne.
Young ended his stellar career with the Devils with a senior year that saw him hit .315 at the plate, driving home 21 runs, drawing 21 walks, staling 12 bases in 13 attempts. On the mound, Young finished with a 5-3 record with an earned run average of 1.67. He fanned 36 hitters in 46 innings of action, and picked up a save.
Osborne had an impressive season at the plate for the Devils, swinging at a .419 clip, with 15 extra-base hits that included a pair of homers, and led the team with 33 RBI’s, along with a .651 slugging percentage, while scoring 27 runs. On the mound, in eight games pitched, Osborne was 3-1 with an ERA of 4.94, with 18 strikeouts in 17 innings pitched.
The remainder of the 2019 all-SHAC Baseball Team included: Evan Brill, Traeten Hamilton, Zach Harless, and Mason Lehr (Whiteoak), Sam Buddelmeyer and Andrew Dingey (Fairfield), Evan Deisch and Cole Holden (Fayetteville), Ethan McConnaughey, Drew Pitzer, and Josh Wolfe (Lynchburg), and Colton Vaughn and Ian Wiles (Eastern Brown).
All of these young men were honored at the SHAC Spring Sports Awards, held on May 28 at Eastern Brown High School.
Final SHAC Baseball Standings
Division I
Lynchburg 12-1
North Adams 9-4
West Union 8-5
Eastern Brown 5-8
Ripley 0-13
Division II
Whiteoak 12-1
Fairfield 7-6
Fayetteville 7-6
Manchester 4-9
