Mike Mathews
Cumberland Times-News
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CUMBERLAND — Southern’s Corey Helbig, who won the area batting crown, and Frankfort’s Marcus Weaver, who led the area in wins and earned run average, head this year’s Cumberland Times-News All-Area baseball team.
Area champion Frankfort led the way with four first-teamers, including Player of the Year Jeff Conley, who was featured in Saturday’s edition.
Conley and Southern’s Helbig and Nathan King were the only first-team repeaters.
The All-Area team was determined by a vote of area head coaches, who first nominated players to appear on an All-Area ballot.
Pitchers
• Frankfort’s Marcus Weaver enjoyed a perfect season, as far as wins and losses go, in helping lead the Falcons to Area and Appalachian Mountain Athletic Conference championships.
The Falcons won 28 games, and Weaver won nearly a third of them. He went 9-0, with his nine victories and 1.72 earned run average the best marks in the area. He had two shutouts and struck out 64 batters in 53 innings.
• Korey Reed, a junior at Moorefield, finished tied for second in the area in wins, and was 8-1 with a 2.57 ERA. In 46 1-3 innings, he allowed only 30 hits and struck out 70.
Reed batted .367 with 22 hits in 60 at-bats. He scored 29 runs, and had three doubles, one triple, seven RBIs and 10 stolen bases.
• Nathan King, a senior at Southern, was 5-1 with a 2.25 ERA. He pitched in 12 of the Rams’ 18 games and, in 46 2-3 innings, struck out 49 and walked only 19.
He was second on the team in hitting with a .471 average, getting 24 hits in 51 at-bats. He scored 20 runs, had five doubles, two triples, four home runs and 16 RBIs.
Catcher
• Southern’s Corey Helbig hit for average and for power, as the junior won the area batting title and also was among the leaders in doubles and home runs.
In 18 games, Helbig pounded out 32 hits in 52 at-bats for a hefty .615 average. He scored 31 runs, knocked in 21 and ripped six doubles, a triple and five home runs for a 1.058 slugging percentage.
Helbig also was 2-0 as a pitcher and struck out 22 in 19 innings.
Infielders
Cody Hovatter and Adam Stowell, who led Mountain Ridge to a school-record 12-win season, head the All-Area infield.
• Hovatter led the area in home runs, was second in batting average and third in doubles.
Hovatter, a senior, batted .500 with 26 hits in 52 at-bats. He scored 25 runs and in just 17 games hit eight home runs and seven doubles for a 1.096 slugging percentage. He also stole nine bases.
• Stowell, a junior, finished sixth in the area in hitting, collecting 24 hits in 52 at-bats for a .462 average. He also scored 26 runs, belted six doubles and two homers and stole five bases.
• Kolby Foltz, a senior on a young East Hardy team, helped lead the Cougars to the West Virginia Class A state tournament and a 26-9 season.
Foltz batted .439 with 43 hits in 98 at-bats with 12 doubles, five homers, 35 RBIs and 47 runs scored. A hard-throwing right-hander, Foltz also went 8-5 with one save as a pitcher. He had 86 strikeouts in 63 1-3 innings.
• Josh O’Dell, a senior, led Petersburg to a 14-win season, hitting .425 and supplying plenty of power to the Vikings lineup.
In 24 games, O’Dell had 34 hits in 80 at-bats. He had five doubles, was second in the area with eight homers, and was eighth in the area in RBIs with 31.
• Zach Neiberlein, a senior at Frankfort, batted .446 in helping the Falcons to the Area and Appalachian Mountain Athletic Conference titles.
Neiberlein hit six doubles, one triple and four home runs, stole nine bases and drove in 34 runs.
• Bishop Walsh’s Kevin Myers earned first-team honors as a sophomore. He batted .466 with 27 hits in 58 at-bats and scored 22 runs. Myers pounded out six doubles, one triple and one home run and had 20 RBIs.
Also a pitcher, Myers went 4-3 with a 2.45 ERA, striking out 81 and walking only 14 in 51 1-3 innings.
Outfielders
• Teddy Linton, a senior center fielder at Northern, was the leading votegetter among outfielders.
Linton batted .412 with 28 hits in 68 at-bats and 23 runs scored. He hit one double, three triples and one home run and drove in 18 runs.
• Ollie Douthitt, a senior at Hampshire, hit .352 with 32 hits in 91 at-bats. He scored 34 runs and pounded out seven doubles, two triples and two home runs while knocking in 25 runs.
• Aaron Lehman, a junior, gives Frankfort four first-teamers. He batted .345 and had five doubles, one triple, two home runs and 15 RBIs for the Area champion Falcons.
• Trevor Sites, a senior at Moorefield, batted .357 with 25 hits in 70 at-bats, including four doubles, three triples and two home runs. He stole eight bases.
Sites also had four saves and a 2.15 ERA as a pitcher, striking out 16 in 16 1-3 innings.
Designated hitter
• Southern’s Ryan Bennett was a near unanimous choice as the designated hitter.
A junior, Bennett hit .420 with 21 hits in 50 at-bats. Fourteen of his hits went for extra bases, as he was second in the area in doubles with eight, and third in the area in homers with six. He also had a team-high 27 RBIs.
Mike Mathews is a Cumberland Times-News sportswriter. He can be reached at mmathews@times-news.com
