Welcome to Mizuno Performances of the Week for April 2, highlighting some of the state’s best and hottest baseball players. This weekly feature is compiled and written by Todd Holcomb. Coaches can email weekly nominations to Todd at toddholcomb@bellsouth.net. Please include the nominee’s positon and year in school.
Here are some top individual performers from the recent games throughout the state:
*Allatoona senior shortstop Blake Evans was 4-for-8 with four triples last week in two victories over Sequoyah. Evans has a 10-game hitting streak and is batting .492 (32-for-65) with eight triples and 31 runs scored on the season. Evans has signed with Georgia Southern.
*Bacon County junior Wes Livingston pitched a two-hitter in the Raiders’ 4-2 victory over second-ranked Benedictine of Class AA on Tuesday. Only one run against Livingston was earned. Bacon County got the two-game sweep with a 7-6 win on Thursday. Junior Cooper Brown pitched four scoreless innings after getting down 6-0 through three innings. Junior Caleb Houston was 2-for-3 with a home run in that game.
*Buford senior first baseman/catcher Noah Ledford was 4-for-4 with two doubles and a home run, five runs scored, six RBI and four walks in three victories for the Wolves last week. Ledford signed with Georgia Southern last fall.
*Lowndes senior Wyatt Fender pitched a one-hitter and struck out 10 in a 5-0 victory over Camden County in his last start. Fender has 53 strikeouts in 32 innings and a 1.53 ERA this season.
*St. Francis junior Bret Madren was 4-for-5 with a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning of a 6-5 victory over Mount Pisgah Christian on Wednesday.
*Stephenson junior Ga'von Wray has pitched three straight no-hitters. Wray had nine strikeouts in a seven-inning 5-0 victory over Drew on March 13. He had 12 strikeouts in six innings in a 10-0 victory over M.L. King on March 21. He had seven strikeouts in a four-inning 15-0 win over Lovejoy on Monday. For the season, Wray is 6-1 with 56 strikeouts in 34.2 innings.
*Terrell County junior shortstop/pitcher Javarious McDaniel was 7-for-11 with three doubles and seven runs scored and pitching eight scoreless innings with 17 strikeouts in four games last week. McDaniel is batting .583 (21-for-36) on the season. His ERA is 3.42.
*Troup senior pitcher Colby Williams pitched a two-hit shutout with eight strikeouts and no walks in a 4-0 victory over Cedartown on Friday. Williams was 2-for-3 at the plate with a double and a run scored. On Tuesday, Williams pitched three hitless innings of relief and got the save in an 11-8 comeback win over Sandy Creek. Williams, a Kennesaw State signee, has pitched 18 consecutive scoreless innings since March 8.
*Woodstock junior infielder Spencer Keefe was 5-for-8 with three home runs, five RBI, four runs scored and four walks last week as the Wolverines won two of three from defending Class AAAAAAA champion Etowah.
*Woodward Academy senior first baseman Ethan Cornelius was 5-for-10 with three doubles, a home run and five RBI in a three-game sweep of seventh-ranked Eastside in a Region 4-AAAA series last week. The teams entered the series with 11-0 records in the region play. Cornelius has committed to Wofford.
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