It’s one of the best times of year here at The Columbian-Progress when we get to hand out some hardware for excellence on the baseball diamond.
Once again, there are five awards to dole out: Most Valuable Player, Offensive Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, Breakout Star of the Year and Most Improved Player. Below is a comprehensive list of the nominees that will be voted on by Marion County’s head coaches, C-P Publisher Joshua Campbell and C-P Sports Editor Brad Crowe. Coaches cannot vote for their own players.
There are five nominees for Most Valuable Player, including Columbia Academy’s Hays Carley and Logan Buckley, West Marion’s Tre’ Broom, Columbia’s Dylan Wallace and East Marion’s JT Jones.
Carley, who has signed to play at Jones College next year, had a tremendous year as the catalyst to a scrappy CA lineup. The leadoff hitter batted .460 with four home runs, 10 doubles, 25 RBI, 33 runs scored, 17 stolen bases and a 1.265 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage), somehow managing to still lead the Cougars in RBI despite often hitting without runners on.
Buckley’s primary contribution was on the mound where he was arguably the best in the county with a 4-0 record in nine starts, 67 strikeouts in 40 1/3 innings and a sparkling 1.56 ERA, but he was no slouch with the bat in his hands either. After enduring a slow start at the dish, the eighth grader finished the year hitting .333 with four homers, four doubles, 17 RBI and a 1.108 OPS.
Broom was a transformative piece of West Marion’s lineup, leading the way with a .532 average, four homers, seven doubles, one triple, 26 RBI, 32 runs scored, 20 stolen bases and an absurd 1.545 OPS. Not only were his OPS and .674 on-base percentage tops on the Trojans, they were the best in all of Marion County. He got on base in more than two-thirds of his plate appearances, thanks in large part to a sterling 16:7 walk-to-strikeout ratio.
Wallace was the epitome of a two-way star for the Wildcats, leading things off for Columbia with a .412 average, two homers, 11 doubles, two triples, 19 RBI, 29 runs scored, 12 steals and a 1.101 OPS. He was also exceptional on the mound with 67 strikeouts in 45 1/3 innings and a 3.71 ERA. He was handed the ball in almost every single huge game for the Wildcats and typically saved his best pitching performances for those moments.
Jones was a star at the plate for the scrappy Eagles, pacing East Marion with a .457 average, two homers, nine doubles, 21 RBI, 14 runs and a 1.377 OPS. The senior, who struck out just five times all season, delivered in the biggest of moments, including launching a walk-off, three-run homer on Senior Night to secure East Marion’s spot in the playoffs. While he did struggle at times on the mound with his command, he was East Marion’s most dominant arm.
Broom, Carley, Jones and Wallace are also nominated for Offensive Player of the Year, as are Columbia’s Eli Lowery and East Marion’s Kyler Collins. Lowery led the county with six long balls to go along with a .361 average, eight doubles, one triple, 26 RBI, 18 runs and a 1.170 OPS. Lowery’s 15 extra-base hits also led Marion County.
Collins led the Eagles at the plate, batting a team-best .466 with five doubles, 20 RBI, 16 runs, 10 steals and a 1.109 OPS. Although the sophomore didn’t connect for a home run this season, he was a catalyst in the middle of the order with his ability to get on base and drive in runners.
Buckley and Wallace are both also nominated for Pitcher of the Year, along with Columbia’s Dylan Broom, West Marion’s Kolby Stringer and CA’s Roman Lawrence.
Broom was just as effective for the Wildcats as Wallace, tossing 35 2/3 innings with 44 strikeouts and a 2.36 ERA. Kolby Stringer, an eighth grader, became the Trojans’ ace down the stretch, fanning 55 batters in 36 2/3 innings with a stellar 1.91 ERA. Lawrence was extremely valuable to CA both as a starter early in the season and a multi-inning weapon out of the bullpen late, picking up four saves and a 3-1 record with 33 strikeouts and a 3.44 ERA in 36 2/3 innings.
Joining Collins as nominees for Breakout Star of the Year are Columbia Academy’s Holdyn Sandifer and Zach Lowery and West Marion’s Jude Stringer and Trace McDonald.
Sandifer emerged as a legitimate star at the plate with a .405 average, seven doubles, a triple, 17 RBI and a 1.034 while playing the physically-demanding position of catcher for the Cougars. Lowery, who missed his entire sophomore season due to injury, emerged as one of CA’s best hitters this year, batting .375 with eight doubles, one triple, 22 RBI and a 1.008 OPS.
Jude Stringer was a two-way star for West Marion, pitching to a 2.70 ERA with 36 strikeouts in 33 2/3 innings and batting .325 with four doubles, three triples, 16 RBI, 25 runs, 17 steals and an .882 OPS. McDonald shook off a rough start to the season to be a dominating arm for West Marion towards the end of his freshman campaign. The tall righty struck out 31 batters in 28 innings while pitching to a 4.00 ERA, and he batted .286 with six doubles, 10 RBI and a .702 OPS.
Wallace, Collins and Lowery are also nominated for Most Improved Player, along with West Marion’s Cole Crozier. Wallace experienced an incredible jump at the plate, increasing his average from .255 to .412 and upping his power numbers considerably with 15 extra-base hits after connecting for just three as a sophomore. His biggest jump on the mound came from his improved ability to miss bats, lowering his opponent batting average to .155 from .209 and fanning 35 more batters in just 14 more innings.
Collins became a completely different player in the batter’s box as a sophomore, upping his batting average to .466 from .208 and connecting for 16 more hits and three more extra-base knocks.
While Lowery was quite impressive in the batter’s box as a sophomore last year, he became a feared presence in 2022. He increased his batting average from .286 to .361 and his OPS from .853 to 1.170, doubled his home run total from three to six and drove in 10 more runs.
Crozier was a completely different player for West Marion as a senior. His average jumped more than 100 points from .204 to .306, he connected for six doubles after not having a single extra-base hit in 2021, he stole eight more bases and the infielder more than doubled his hit total from 11 to 26.
The results for both baseball and softball will be announced in the June 9 edition of the C-P. In next week’s edition, the award nominees for softball will be announced.
