West Stanly standout tops All-SNAP baseball squad, sweeps top honors

Published 9:31 am Thursday, July 29, 2021

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Obviously, the numbers for this season were a far smaller sample size than what a normal season of 20-odd games would be.

However, as in past years, The SNAP has relied on statistics mostly for the selections.

This year’s top awards for Batter and Pitcher of the Year will both go to the same player.

West Stanly’s Michael Crayton had the highest batting average, slugging percentage and RBI total this season of anyone in the county.

He pitched the most innings (41.1), had the most wins on the mound (seven), and the second-best strikeouts-to-walks ratio (6.0). He averaged 1.74 strikeouts per inning as well.

The Baseball Coach of the Year goes to West Stanly’s new athletic director. Chad Yow directed the Colts to the best record in the county (13-2) and both the Rocky River Conference regular-season and tournament titles.

Here are the 2021 All-Stanly winners by position:

C Jeffery Forrest WS .256 .375 .282 1 0 0 10
1B Michael Crayton WS .447 .571 .711 3 2 1 20
2B Solomon Eudy GS .421 .421 .546 0 1 0 0
SS Luke Shaver NS .475 .569 .550 3 0 0 11
3B Connor Tucker WS .439 .629 .659 3 3 0 10
OF Hayden Furr NS .371 .410 .485 2 1 0 11
OF Jake Cohen SS .353 .421 .352 0 0 0 4
OF Jordon Hart WS .325 .451 .475 4 1 0 13
DH Trey Gibson NS .286 .400 .392 3 0 0 11
Hon. Mention
1B Nic Melton NS .389 .532 .555 1 1 1 10
1B Carson Morton WS .313 .424 .521 7 0 1 21
SS Charlie Carpenter WS .387 .638 .677 5 2 0 19
3B Trevor Tucker SS .432 .523 .594 4 0 1 11
3B Lawson Hicks SS .316 .413 .421 2 0 1 12
OF Jett Thomas WS .317 .367 .415 4 0 0 11
OF Austin Stoker WS .306 .452 .327 1 0 0 8
OF Clay Hatley NS .278 .386 .361 3 0 0 7

Now for the All-SNAP pitching squad…

Pitcher of the Year ERA IP W L BB K Ratio
Michael Crayton WS 1.86 41.1 7 1 12 72 6.00
All-County
Carson Morton WS 1.47 28.2 5 1 21 61 2.90
Cole Smith NS 3.23 37.0 3 2 15 23 1.53
Lawson Hicks SS 3.78 24.0 1 2 5 37 7.40
Luke Shaver NS 1.02 20.2 0 1 11 16 1.45
Hon. Mention
Charlie Carpenter WS 0.42 16.2 1 0 3 26 8.67
Trevor Tucker SS 2.52 8.1 1 1 5 11 2.20

Sports Editor’s Note: One name was unintentionally placed twice in the All-SNAP batters list and another name was mistakenly omitted in a previous version of this story. It is now corrected.

About Charles Curcio

Charles Curcio has served as the sports editor of the Stanly News & Press for more than 16 years and has written numerous news and feature storeis as well. He was awarded the NCHSAA Tim Stevens Media Representative of the Year and named CNHI Sports Editor of the Year in 2014. He has also won an award from Boone Newspapers, and has won four North Carolina Press Association awards.

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