From staff reports
Kyle Seager had four hits for the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday, but his little brother, Corey, may have had an even better day.
The Northwest Cabarrus shortstop was named North Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year for baseball.
Seager batted .519 for the Trojans (23-5) this season despite often being intentioanally walked or pitched around.
Even with the toned down bats, he hit 10 homers (no Rowan County team hit that many this season). Seager drove in 37 runs.
“He’s one of the greatest players — if not the best — to ever come out of Cabarrus,” said Concord High coach Derek Shoe. “With that title, he wasn’t pitched to very often, but he never showed any frustration. He’s just an all-around great kid and one that we all wish we had on our team.”
Seager was named an All-American by Perfect Game USA, Louisville Slugger and Collegiate Baseball after his junior season.
In nine games for the 2010 USA Baseball 16U National Team, Seager batted .514 with 12 RBIs and led the U.S. to a gold medal at the Pan-American Games.
Seager has a 4.05 GPA and has signed with South Carolina. He’s also likely to be a high pick in the upcoming draft.
Seager, 6-foot-4, 205 pounds, is a member of the Kannapolis American Legion team for the first time this summer and will lead Post 115 against Rowan County at Newman Park tonight.
NCHSAA championships will be decided this weekend at Durham Athletic Park and Five County Stadium.
The 2A and 3A series will get under way on Friday at Five County, home of the Carolina Mudcats, while the 1A and 4A classifications will get their series going on Friday at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham. All the series are best-of-three games, and each of the teams in the finals survived best-of-three regional championship series.
In 1A, it will be a battle between Durham’s Voyager Academy (20-6) and YVC champ South Stanly (27-4).
South Stanly is back in the championship series for the third time in the last four years, winning the 2009 title and losing to East Columbus in three games in last year’s championship.
Stephen Wallace once again leads the Rowdy Rebel Bulls with eight homers, 40 RBIs and a batting average of .432.
Voyager’s Chad Sykes is batting .450 and is also 8-1 on the mound with a 1.58 ERA.
In 4A, the Mustangs of Apex Middle Creek (24-7) take on Cornelius Hough (23-10), with the first game Friday at 8 p.m. Both teams are making their first trip to the baseball championship, with Hough a new school in only its second year of operation.
Middle Creek’s Jimmy Boyd is battling a sizzling .450 with four homers and 30 RBIs and is 7-1 on the mound with an ERA of just 1.00. Graham Edwards is 8-1 on the mound for Middle Creek with a 1.75 ERA.
Brandon Gragilla is the workhorse for Hough (11-1, 1.05 ERA in 80.1 innings) and Nick Bernado’s .393 average leads the offense.
In 3A, it’s Weddington (26-6) against the Golden Falcons of Pikeville Charles B. Aycock (21-9).
Aycock was the fourth-seeded team from the Eastern Carolina Conference in the playoffs, but got hot at the right time. The Golden Falcons are led at the plate by Adam Pate’s .355 average. Collin Dubose has a pitching mark of 6-0 with an 0.69 ERA.
Weddington, which knocked out West Rowan, Carson and South Rowan, makes its first trip to the championship series, and the Warriors get a huge boost from Alex Bostic. Bostic is 10-0 on the mound with an 0.98 ERA and is batting .404 average with seven home runs and 28 RBIs.
The 2A series will get under way at 8 p.m. on Friday with the opening game between Whiteville (24-5) and defending champion Randleman (29-4).
Randleman’s Cody Trogdon is batting .512 with eight homers and 32 RBIs.
Parks and Rec
Salisbury Parks and Recreation Department will host a baseball and fast-pitch softball camp at Salisbury Community Park on June 18-21 from 9 until noon.
Baseball camp will be conducted by Salisbury pitching coach Justin Morgan and the softball camp will be conducted by former West Rowan head coach Elizabeth Clarke.
Cost of the four-day camp is $40. For more information or to register call 704-638-5289 or email sclar@salisburync.gov.
Phenoms take third
The Carolina Phenoms 14U boys basketball team finished third in the USSSA State tournament in Greensboro.
In pool play, the Phenoms lost to Team Felton 58-44 and defeated the Carolina All-Stars (Sanford) 46-44. In bracket play, the Phenoms defeated the Clayton Tigers 77-63 and the Halo Xcel (Wilmington) 53-48 but lost to Team Felton 57-53 in the semifinals.
Leading scorers were Deshawn Troutman, Donnell Alexander, Wes Fazia, Kreshon Alexander and Ian Bradshaw. Other key contributors were Alex Yang, Deshaun Minter, Landon Goodman, Donte Hill, Amara Morris, Bryson Collins and Austin Russ.
West hoops camp
Falcon Basketball Camp for boys who will be grades 2-8 will be held at West Rowan High from 9 to noon daily from July 23-26.
The cost is $50 for four days of fun and instruction from coach Mike Gurley and West players. Campers receive a Falcon T-shirt. Contact Gurley at 704-798-2074 for info.