Kory VanDeusen and Brandon Marquez were both voted by their teammates as Most Valuable Players in high school varsity baseball.
On May 15, during the team’s annual awards dessert held at Community Chapel, Drayson Scott received the Hustle Award, while VanDeusen was Most Improved and Pitcher of the Year. Rookie of the Year went to Cole Ashcraft and Kevin Seiber, and Marquez won the Big Stick Award for hitting. Scott won the Golden Glove Award for fielding.
The coaches awarded the Winford Hackworth Memorial Scholarship to Jordan Paul. The award is given to a 15-year-old who demonstrates the best sportsmanship during the season.
Brett Blachly was voted JV Most Valuable Player.
“Brandon had about one of the best years in the past decade,” said Coach Matt Matuszak. Marquez hit .500 overall, including four home runs and 12 doubles, just missing the overall season record of 13 set by Grant Stephens in 1991 and Travis Smith in 2005.
“People didn’t want to throw to him,” Matuszak said, and they intentionally walked him a lot.
VanDeusen hit better than .350. He set the lowest earned run average record at 1.20 for the entire season and at .70 for league. He was unanimously selected as first-team pitcher all-league.
Earning their first letters in baseball were sophomores Cole Ashcraft, Brett Blachly, Hunter Jutte and Kevin Seiber; junior Dylan Elder; and senior Brandon Marquez, a three-year letterman who transferred this year from Lebanon High School.
Winning their second letters were juniors Austin Rice and J.T. Weld and senior Kory VanDeusen.
Senior Drayson Scott received his third letter. Scott surpassed his own record for sacrifices, recording 14 this year. He had 11 and seven during league play last year.
Receiving their fourth-year letters were seniors Nate Melcher, starting catcher for three years, and Colton Holly, the team’s ace pitcher his freshman year. Holly was unable to pitch this year due to an injury.
Holly set the team’s record for being hit by pitches – 37 times, Matuszak said. He beat the season record, 14, last year when he was hit 15 times. Marquez was hit 10 times this season.
“That’s a record I don’t think will ever be broken,” Matuszak said of the career mark.
The varsity squad finished fourth in league, missing the state playoffs.
The junior varsity ended its season 12-3.
“We had a great time,” said Coach Josh Blachly. “This is a great group. They laugh. They love each other and they love what they do. It’s absolutely obvious that these guys won the JV league title by at least three games.”
Coach Dan Tow recalled freshman highlights, including tallying to three doubles and a triple to win in a doubleheader with the Monroe JV. Newport beat the Huskies early in the season. At home, under thunder and lightning, the Huskies beat Newport by 10 runs in a short game.
The Huskies probably didn’t win as many games as they would have liked, Tow said, but there are “some awfully good players in there.”